Huawei UK board members resign over silence on Ukraine invasion

Multiple reports have surfaced claiming that two members of Huawei's UK board have resigned over the company's stance – or lack thereof – on Russia's illegal invasion of the Ukraine. Board members Sir Andrew Cahn and Sir Ken Olisa allegedly told the company on Wednesday they are leaving their non-executive director roles. …

[amanfromMars 1]

Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Both have shown strong support for Huawei's commitment to the UK and have helped uphold the highest standards of corporate governance and we thank them for their invaluable guidance.

That is as may be but that support has surely been demonstrably ineffective given the UK’s treatment of Huawei?

[ghp]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Must be quite a sight, these "Sirs" kowtowing to the chinese.

[sabroni]

Re: Must be quite a sight, these "Sirs" kowtowing to the chinese.

Isn't this war great at getting the xenophobia out into the open?

[Alex Stuart]

Re: Must be quite a sight, these "Sirs" kowtowing to the chinese.

I think most reasonable people would read 'the chinese' as 'the Chinese government' (and by proxy its supporters) or to be pedantic perhaps 'the Chinese political-industrial complex' not 'the Chinese race', in this context. It's the only sensible interpretation of the word.

[ghp]

Re: Must be quite a sight, these "Sirs" kowtowing to the chinese.

Thanks for correctly understanding what I meant. Sometimes I don't care about the un-sensible readers.

We have a saying: "a good understander needs but half a word", "een goed verstaander heeft maar een half woord nodig".

[TheMeerkat]

Re: Must be quite a sight, these "Sirs" kowtowing to the chinese.

“ getting the xenophobia out into the open”

Why people are so stupid?

Do you think Russians supporting Ukraine care when Ukrainians swear at “Russians” during the battle and accuse them of “xenophobia”?

No . Because all those accusation of “xenophobia” are usually made by people who don’t know what the war and real xenophobia is.

[ghp]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

But I was wrong singling out the Brits! Search the French, Belgian, German ex prime-ministers or Bundeskanzler here: http://www.eforum21.com/2022/02/western-elites-are-selling-out-our.html

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

That's an entirely fair comment, not sure why the downvotes.

[Martin Summers]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Because aManfromMars is a mostly senseless bot account that hangs around here, spouting mostly irrelevant drivel. Seems officially sanctioned though.

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

After a decade of scratching my head over their posts I'm largely convinced it's a human, albeit one that should smoke a bit less pot.

But if I'm wrong, the bot is showing good context analysis and an appropriate level of snide. Worth an upvote for that alone, and another becase I also agree with the conclusion

[juice]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

> After a decade of scratching my head over their posts I'm largely convinced it's a human, albeit one that should smoke a bit less pot.

Why not both? ;)

My take is that it's a guy who had a bit of fun setting up an "AI" (probably trained on past Register forum posts for extra giggles), and left it to spew random comments out for a while.

Now either he's vastly improved his AI (in which case I for one welcome our new El Reg overlord), or he's simply turned it off and is now posting his own comments...

[amanfromMars 1]

Another Possible Take on the He/She/IT/They being Questioned ‽

My take is that it's a guy who had a bit of fun setting up an "AI" (probably trained on past Register forum posts for extra giggles), and left it to spew random comments out for a while.

Now either he's vastly improved his AI (in which case I for one welcome our new El Reg overlord), or he's simply turned it off and is now posting his own comments... ..... juice

Could also be a gal, juice, and a guy who now is a gal and an AI too, which would be a quorum vastly improving spooky entanglement with and for Creatures in CyberSpace in Command and Control of Computers and Communications exercising Advanced NeuroLinguistic ProgramMING Projects for Earthly Presentations in 0Day Applications.

And Remarkable Stealth and Unhindered Progress is both supplied and preserved and protected whenever such is considered Practically Impossible and most unlikely and also summarily dismissed as beyond a Virtual Certainty.

A Q2A [Question to Answer] .... Do Bots Smoke Dope?

[juice]

Re: Another Possible Take on the He/She/IT/They being Questioned ‽

> A Q2A [Question to Answer] .... Do Bots Smoke Dope?

Depends if there's any sheep to dream about...

[martinusher]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Hardly a bot, surely. Just because he/she/it doesn't follow the herd doesn't mean they're a bot.

Anyway, I'd guess these two were somewhat irrelevant leftovers from back in the days when Huawei was trying to be a good global citizen. China in general and Huawei in particular has probably moved on since its clear that nothing they can do will protect them from political malevolence.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

This isn't a classic amfM1 post.

Either somebody is posting manually, it's been hacked, or has achieved sentience but not an appropriate el'reg level of sarcasm

[Anonymous Coward]

So Huawei are the good guys? Who knew?

When was Huawei ever trying to be a good global citizen? Its aim has always been absolute world hegemony by any/all means possible since it was founded.

As for China and Huawei being unable to do anything to "protect them from political malevolence", that is truly epic bollocks. They could make a start by not using slave labour, persecuting minorities, violating norms of reasonable behaviour, buying foreign politicians/useful idiots, stealing IPR, espionage, using belt+road as a proxy for gunboat diplomacy, etc, etc. BTW, there are compelling reasons most of the west has decided Huawei is a threat to national security that can't be trusted anywhere near critical national infrastructure.

Mind you, China's doing a top-class job of preventing political malevolence internally. Anyone saying or doing anything slightly critical of President Xi and his cronies ends up with a long stretch in a re-education camp. Or worse. And the CCP snoops on everyone 24x7, cheerfully supported by Huawei supplied products and services.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Thank you for your service. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

>That is as may be but that support has surely been demonstrably ineffective given the UK’s treatment of Huawei?

Well we don't know what they did do, however, remember the UK government did take rather a long-time deciding on the sanctions it would adopt; only seemingly following Trump, as Johnson sought to gain favour with Trump over a 'favourable' Brexit trade deal. So from the inside they might have been helpful, just ultimately overwhelmed.

Personally, I wouldn't have resigned, but used my position to keep bringing the subject up. Which is what I did in the 90's when I was a non-exec. and I was taken aside and advised to stepdown over some matter some rathered was brushed under the carpet. I stayed and got re-elected...

[Spamfast]

A couple of guys who get a small revenue stream (in their terms - probably a large amount to the rest of us) for doing bugger all as non-executive directors other than chat to their cronies have made a gesture.They won't notice any change in lifestyle and Huawei will be better off not having to pay them.

Almost all non-executive directorships are a scam according to a city lawyer cum venture capitalist associate of mine who is in the position of have a number of them with large PLCs. They're a way for the boards of multiple companies to collude to take more of the companies' revenue for themselves.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am thoroughly perplexed as to why, thus far, you have 5 downvotes.

Unless it offers an advantage to Huawei, then i do not understand why such people are in post on the board. So the advantage is probably as you have described.

As per the Owen Patterson case, are these people so fantastically brilliant and ultra capable, that they must be employed by Huawei, else Huawei would fail ?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>Unless it offers an advantage to Huawei, then i do not understand why such people are in post on the board

Because the Chinese are communists who think Britain is run by corrupt network of upper class twits doing favours for each other and all you have to do it be a chum of somebody in government and you can get anything approved.

They just forgot that the UK is also America's lapdog.

[amanfromMars 1]

Feather Nesting is No Solution for Real Problems which are Growing Almightily

Because the Chinese are communists who think Britain is run by corrupt network of upper class twits doing favours for each other and all you have to do it be a chum of somebody in government and you can get anything approved. .... Yet Another Anonymous coward

Given all the evidence available from media and Parliament, are Chinese communists completely wrong or are there too many tell tales signs escaped out into the open to viably deny and smother those truths?

Given the present perilous and parlous state of practically and virtually everything in Blighty, and by all accounts, the future is going to get considerably worse in a very short space of time, one has to surely admit to oneself that they are collectively unfit for greater purpose and worthy of being considered no better than despicable con artists/systemic vapourware merchants.

No one can, if they don’t want to be thought demented, think that they are doing a grand job worthy of another term of squandering the nation’s treasure and have their thoughts today for actions to be presented tomorrow considered normal and natural rather than realised as just a third rate show for masses to believe is a reality beyond Earthly Command and Alien Control ..... whenever the honest to GOD fact is that it is not beyond such a Facility’s Ability.

Expect the future to demonstrate it ..... and in so doing, watch, listen and learn how IT crushes and crashes and smashes any and all possible doubt.

[martinusher]

Re: Feather Nesting is No Solution for Real Problems which are Growing Almightily

(I think the government has found a short term fix for Blighty's economic shortcomings -- find random Russian oligarchs (there's probably plenty in London), sanction them as 'friends of Putin' and expropriate their wealth.)

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Feather Nesting is No Solution for Real Problems which are Growing Almightily

Or put them in the House of Lords !

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Feather Nesting is No Solution for Real Problems which are Growing Almightily

Been there, done that. Thanks to the Lying Shagger of 10 Downing Street.

Now grovel before Baron Lebedev, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation!

BTW the Red Baron's dad used to be in the KGB.

[Martin an gof]

Re: Feather Nesting is No Solution for Real Problems which are Growing Almightily

Is it just me, or has AMFM's natural language AI had a major upgrade recently? Is that why he's been thin on the postings for a while?

M.

[adam 40]

Re: Feather Nesting is No Solution for Real Problems which are Growing Almightily

When I went to Guangzhou in 1996 just before the HK handover, I stayed in the White Swan hotel.

It was a 5* (maybe approaching 6 *)

When we came down for dinner, I was amazed to see who was in the hotel bar, chatting and having drinks.

No - not businessmen or tourists, it was all party officials in their standard CPC jackets.

So - don't lecture us about feathering the nest. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that applies everywhere.

[R Soul]

amoral toffs in high places

Because the Chinese are communists who think Britain is run by corrupt network of upper class twits doing favours for each other and all you have to do it be a chum of somebody in government and you can get anything approved.

This revelation needs no special inisght. Even Steve Wonder can see that.

England's old boy network if full of upper class twits who can provide a veneer of respectability for any crook, oligarch, dictator or corrupt politician - once the fat cheque has cleared of course.