President Donald Trump directed attention to the news that Chinese telecom company Huawei had hired a former President Barack Obama official as a lobbyist.
“Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei hires former Obama Cyber Security Official as a lobbyist,” he wrote. “This is not good, or acceptable!”
Huawei faces criticism from Washington, DC, for concerns that use of their technology infrastructure is a major security risk to the United States.
The company hired Samir Jain, a former Obama administration cybersecurity official as a lobbyist to help them press their case.
As a major Chinese company, United States officials warn that Huawei could be forced to give up data or include back-door access to the government into their products.
Huawei founder CEO Ren Zhengfei taunted Trump on Sunday, noting that the president was advertising their technology company because he was “scared” of their success.
“For such a powerful country to be scared of a small company like us, some other countries are saying, ‘Your products are so good that the U.S. government is scared. We won’t test your products. We’ll buy them directly,’” he said in a CNBC interview. “That’s why some deep-pocketed countries with rich oil reserves are buying from us. They are buying our products in large quantities as the U.S. government is advertising for us.”