SHANGHAI — In an unusual move, Huawei Technologies, one of the most successful companies in China, has asked the United States to formally investigate his background in hopes of clearing the path of the company to expand and to bid in the United States.
In an open letter published Friday, Huawei complained that the push in the United States had been undermined by false accusations and exchanged the suspicions that the company had close ties with the Chinese Government and the military, and that the company did not respect the intellectual property rights.
The letter, simply labeled "Huawei Open Letter" and addressed to any person or agency, in particular, was by Ken Hu, President of Huawei USA and Vice President of its parent company, Huawei Technologies.
Huawei, according to the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunication equipment, after Ericsson of Sweden, is frustrated by his inability to bid in the United States, said the letter and is determined to cooperate with the Government of the United States to help clarify what the company said had misperceptions about its history and business operations.
"We sincerely hope that the Government of the United States of America will make a formal inquiry on any problems that it can have on Huawei," Mr. Hu wrote.
The letter was released a few days after Huawei cancelled an agreement reached last year to buy the assets of 3Leaf systems, an insolvent company, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., who developed the technology for connecting computers off-the-shelf to more powerful machines.
Acquisition of Huawei goods had been challenged by the Senators of the United States and had been reviewed by the Committee on foreign investments in the United States — a Federal Interagency Committee that includes the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury. The Committee had requested the Huawei to relax the 3Leaf affair.
Last week, an official from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has accused the US Government's use of national security concerns and other reasons to "interfere" with Chinese investment in the United States and that such actions could affect relations in Beijing with Washington.
Huawei has also encountered problems when tried much more great deals, how to buy a stake in 3Com, offers American companies on assets of Motorola and, more recently, trying to sell advanced wireless equipment to Sprint Nextel, one of the largest American wireless operators.
None of those deals are completed, in large part because of concern in Washington that Huawei might pose a risk to national security.
In response, the Treasury Department said Friday: "We strongly support the bipartisan efforts of long-standing U.S. welcoming foreign investments, consistent with national security. This includes investments from China ".
Duncan Clark, Chairman, BDA China, a technology consulting firm in Beijing, said Huawei's decision to call for an investigation of the Government seemed like the logical next step, especially since some customers Americans were eager to use equipment Huawei because its products were at competitive prices.
"From the viewpoint of Huawei, there is nothing to lose," said by phone. "To some extent, have tried everything else."
Last year, a group of Republican senators wrote to administrators of the four federal agencies after the hearing of the affair Sprint can say that they were disturbed by the history of Huawei.
Senators including Jon Kyl of Arizona, and Susan Collins of Maine, said that there were indications that Huawei would have provided communications equipment in Iran and Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein, possibly in violation of UN sanctions.
Senators and some national security experts in Washington have also said that giving contracts to Huawei could allow the Chinese Government to manipulate the American wireless networks and disrupt or intercept Internet messages and phone.
The company's image problems seem to arise from the reports of the Government of the United States, including one from the Department of Defense, and testimonials from national security experts who have interpreted Huawei as having close ties with the Chinese Government and its military forces.
In addition, Huawei has been assisted in its expansion overseas by credit lines made available by the Chinese Government — as more than 30 billion dollars in recent years.
The company said, however, that the money had been made available to overseas customers, Huawei, and the amount used was close to $ 10 billion. In his open letter, Huawei also said that last year had bought 6 billion dollars worth of products and services from American companies.
The statement was intended to counter allegations that Huawei had stolen intellectual property from American companies.
In the last decade, Huawei has been quoted in the United States by two of its competitors: Cisco Systems, which subsequently settled with Huawei and Motorola.
In Court documents filed last summer in Illinois, Motorola said that Chinese-born engineers at Motorola had developed contacts with the founder of Huawei, created a dummy corporation and, between 2003 and 2007, conspired to steal the technology from Motorola and pass it on to Huawei.
Huawei executives said the suit was resolved by Cisco and the seed of Motorola had no merit.
Despite these problems, Huawei has grown into a powerful global system. The company had revenues of over $ 22 billion last year and has signed contracts for equipment, huge in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Founded in 1987 by a former official of China people's Liberation Army, Huawei has struck partnerships with most telecommunications giants of world leaders.
And began to win respect by telecommunications experts for the development of innovative products and the construction of research and development centers.
One of these centers opened in Silicon Valley.
Still, the company has struggled to win business in the United States, despite having taken companies influential lobbyists and public relations.
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