Huawei asks US court to declare defence bill 'unconstitutional'

Reuters - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said on Wednesday (May 29) that it has filed a motion for summary judgement in its lawsuit against the U.S. government, in the telecoms equipment maker's latest attempt to fight sanctions from Washington that threaten to push it out of global markets. The motion filed late on Tuesday (May 28) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas asks to declare the 2019 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) unconstitutional, in an update to the lawsuit against the act that the Chinese company started in March. "We believe that U.S. politicians are using cyber security as an excuse to gain public support for actions that are designed to achieve other goals. These actions will do nothing to make networks more secure," said Huawei chief legal officer Song Liuping, during a briefing held for media in Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters. The NDAA bill, passed into law by the U.S. Congress last summer, places a broad ban on federal agencies and their contractors from using Huawei equipment on national security grounds, citing the company's ties with the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government, military or intelligence services. The world's largest telecom network gear maker has since faced even greater sanctions as the U.S. commerce department on May 16 put the firm on a trade blacklist that bans companies from doing business with Huawei, in a move which immediately disrupted the global tech sector.