wants to dominate the international market.

And that's key to the Chinese Communist Party's plans.

Welcome back to China Uncensored.

I'm Chris Chappell.

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Huawei.

It's the largest telecom equipment maker in China—

and the entire world.

How did this Chinese company become

a global force in just a few short decades?

Well, it was more than just their entrepreneurial spirit.

It was largely thanks to the company's close relationship

with the Chinese Communist Party.

Which explains why Huawei's phones redistribute

all of your data to the Chinese regime.

Huawei's relationship with the Chinese Communist Party

is something the US government has been worried about for years.

But it's become international news

following the arrest of Huawei's CFO

Meng Wanzhou in Canada last December.

The US has filed criminal charges against Meng and Huawei

for various forms of fraud and violating US sanctions on Iran.

Now, the US wants to extradite Meng.

Despite that,

Huawei is still a critical part of

the Chinese Communist Party's plan

to become a world superpower.

And the Chinese regime has pushed Huawei

onto unsuspecting countries

through its Belt and Road Initiative,

also known as One Belt, One Road.

Which is much better than the original name,

One Loan, One Debt Trap.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative began in 2013,

the Chinese regime has financed infrastructure projects

in more than 60 countries.

And while it might be hard to see Huawei's role in say,

building a bridge in Kenya—

that may or may not collapse,

—the telecom equipment maker is the digital bridge builder

of the Belt and Road.

In a March 2015 directive about the goals for the Belt and Road,

Chinese authorities said

“Two key objectives were the 'construction

of transnational fiber optics for communications'

and 'synchronizing technological standards

between China and other countries.'”

And that's where Huawei comes in.

According to one Huawei official speaking to Chinese media,

“different [One Belt One Road] infrastructure projects...

would all require modern telecom equipment

to allow systems to communicate with each other—

prime business opportunities for Huawei.”

Huawei also received huge loans

from the state-owned Silk Road investment fund,

and the  Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,

which is backed by the Chinese regime.

Here are 5 ways Huawei is being used

for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Number 5

Underwater Internet Cables

The Internet may not be a series of tubes,

but it is a series of cables—

including thousands of miles of cables

that run underneath the oceans.

Which is part of the reason why the Atlanteans

are so mad at us surface-dwellers.

But really, the Atlanteans should direct their anger

at Huawei Marine.

It's a joint venture between Huawei,

and a U.K.-based submarine communications firm

Global Marine Systems.

They built 7 thousand miles of undersea cables.

They called it the PEACE Cable Project.

Which sounds super sketchy.

It's an underwater high-speed internet cable system

linking Pakistan, South Africa, Kenya,

Somalia, Djibouti, Egypt, and France.

They say it will be a new information expressway

for China, Europe and Africa.

Which is just what everyone wants.

Internet brought to you by the world's

worst abuser of internet freedom.

According to the Huawei Marine COO,

they were building enough underwater cable

to circle the entire Earth.

But they ran into a little undersea problem.

And I don't mean Cthulhu.

I'm talking about Australia.

In June, the Australian government agreed to fund

its own undersea internet cables for the Solomon Islands,

leapfrogging Huawei's plans to build their cables there.

According to Reuters,

that was done because if Huawei had built it instead,

it “could have compromised Australian internet security.”

Number 4

Smart Cities

You live in a dumb city.

No, I'm not insulting the place you live.

I'm just saying, it's not a “smart city.”

“Similar to how a person's nervous system detects

and reacts to changes in its environment,

a Smart City using Huawei's Smart City solutions

can sense, process and deliver informed decisions

that improves the environment for its inhabitants.”

That may sound pretty good,

but remember that it's a company connected

to the world's largest authoritarian regime

that's saying it can sense, process and deliver

informed decisions that affect its inhabitants.

And according to a 2015 research paper

from China's State Information Center,

smart cities could help lead the Belt and Road Initiative.

“The paper applauded Huawei...

for undertaking an important role

in building 'smart cities' in other countries.”

And what would a top feature of these smart cities

designed by a company with shady links

to the Chinese Communist Party be?

Why, better governance.

Brr, I'm shivering.

And it's not the polar vortex.

I think it's something to do with

how the Chinese Communist Party

uses that same technology in China

to harass and monitor its own population.

And the Belt and Road Initiative,

using Huawei technology,

is trying to export that model.

According to the Jamestown Foundation,

“While the smart cities of the future could be

better, more efficient cities,

they could also provide authoritarian regimes

with previously undreamt of tools of surveillance and control.”

Why, let's take a look at one example of

a Huawei Belt and Road Smart City.

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

It began its transformation into a smart city in 2016.

To start with,

that meant Huawei adding around

10,000 surveillance cameras.

What a wonderful contribution to an authoritarian state.

In fact, Jamestown notes,

“It is both interesting and suggestive that

the list of countries where Huawei's safe city solutions

were first deployed includes a number of authoritarian

and hybrid regimes with close ties to China,

among them Russia, Pakistan,

Venezuela, Laos, and Angola.”

And since that worked out so well for them,

Germany is now interested as well.

But don't worry.

There's no way Germany could ever

transform into an authoritarian state.

Number 3

Smart Energy

Can't have a smart city without smart energy.

That's why Huawei is now selling smart energy systems

to oil-producing countries and companies.

Which turns out are also usually authoritarian regimes.

Go figure.

Some of these contracts Huawei has

are official Belt and Road projects.

One of the major strategic goals of the Belt and Road initiative

is to funnel global oil supplies to China,

which struggles to keep up with growing energy needs.

But it's not just oil.

Shanghai Electric,

a subsidiary of China's state-owned construction company,

PowerChina,

is building a new solar power plant in Argentina.

According to the Huawei website,

“It is the first successful project in Argentina

after the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China.”

And “the project adopts Huawei Smart [photovoltaic] solutions”,

which may include connecting Huawei technology to the power grid.

Wow, great idea.

Give the Chinese Communist Party easy access

to your nation's power supply.

Number 2

National Emergency Systems

Ecuador has hitched its trailer to the Belt and Road.

A big part of that was the ECU 911 national emergency system.

It was built by China's state-owned

China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation.

And they turned to Huawei

for their facial recognition surveillance cameras,

routers, wireless access points, network switches,

and wireless access controllers.

So basically, using the excuse of providing Ecuador

with a national emergency service,

China got to install an all seeing eye.

First of all, that's a cyber espionage threat.

But beyond that,

it risks exporting the Communist Party's authoritarianism

around the world.

“Countries like [Ecuador] may have difficulties acquiring

sophisticated types of surveillance—

of course they can buy it off the shelf,

but what China can give them is a whole system,

from physical centers to processing software.

And when they export those systems,

it's not just the physical aspect

but the political norms that come with them.”

So Chinese investment,

backed by state-owned enterprises and Huawei,

might come with a bit more than a lot of countries bargained for.

Number 1

5G

5G is the future of wireless communication.

And companies around the world

are trying to dominate the market.

According to the New York Times,

“A Huawei spokesman said it had been

working on 5G since 2009,

having spent $600 million on related research

already and committing $800 million more in 2018 alone.”

And “Huawei...owns about 10 percent of 5G essential patents.”

This could be a big win for Huawei.

It could pocket licensing fees from both government

and mobile service providers that use a Huawei 5G network.

This report by U.S.-based think tank

Center for Strategic and International Studies

shows that Huawei leads the world

in manufacturing a certain vital component of 5G service:

the radio access network or RAN.

RAN is what connects your mobile phone to the network.

If Huawei gained control of the world's 5G networks,

it means the Chinese Communist Party

could also get access.

And that would create mayhem and mass surveillance,

according to a retired US General.

However, Huawei's 5G ambitions may not be coming to fruition.

Countries around the world have begun

banning Huawei from working with their governments

and building their 5G networks.

For a rundown on that,

check out my recent episodes,

How 8 Countries Are Dealing with Huawei.

So what do you think of how Huawei

is getting in on China's Belt and Road Initiative?

Leave your comments below.

And before we go,

now is the time when I answer questions from you,

my loyal 50-cent army—

fans of the show who support what we do

through the crowd funding website Patreon.

Zhou Rui asks, “With Xi Jinping's

consolidation of power mostly complete

is there even a small chance that he will invoke

his power to make China Democratic

or even Democratic with Chinese characteristics?”

What Xi Jinping ultimately will do is the million yuan question.

However, I don't want you to have the misconception

that Xi is an untouchable all-powerful leader.

There's still infighting going on within the Communist Party.

China is facing unprecedented economic and social challenges.

The US-China trade war is just one of them.

And Xi will get all the credit or blame

for however it all goes down.