State mouthpieces in China have published a series of articles attacking Cisco, accusing the networking giant of being complicit in US attacks on its infrastructure. The first coverage seems to have appeared as the cover story in China Economic and Information Technology Magazine, and doesn't mince words in laying into Cisco, …

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Thursday 29th November 2012 07:59 GMT tempemeaty

I wonder

I always felt that when China thought it's technology was sufficient to such that they no longer need to get anymore from the western corporations that they would find an excuse to end western presence in China. I wonder if this is the beginning of that.

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1. Thursday 29th November 2012 08:09 GMT LarsG
  
  Not surprising considering how their router modems work and the small print that comes with them. Especially when you could only change your setting through their servers.
  
  'We reserve the right to monitor your Internet access and deny you any content we deem inappropriate'
  
  Then after the out cry
  
  'We have stopped denying you access to what we deem inappropriate but we reserve the right to change our mind when we want.'
  
  So what's new?
  
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2. Thursday 29th November 2012 17:35 GMT Dyson Lu
  
  Re: I wonder
  
  And when the USA fells the need to be more protectionist, they'll find an excuse to do so.
  
  I don't blame any of them for doing what's best for themselves, first and foremost. That's how it works in this world.
  
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3. Saturday 1st December 2012 17:32 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re: I wonder
  
  But who would you trust more? technology from a sometimes flawed but still democratic country or from a clearly authoritarian regime?
  
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Thursday 29th November 2012 07:59 GMT LaeMing

The solution...

...is to find a way to launch both countries into opposite solar orbits so they can mutually annihilate when they collide on the far side of the sun.

Thumbs up for the Chinese giving as good as they get.

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Thursday 29th November 2012 08:04 GMT Mondo the Magnificent

Chairman Pot calls the kettle black..

Oh the irony... the fundemental difference is that the U.S. and other Western nations can and do live quite happily without Huawei comms kit.. but, could or would China survive without Cisco?

Also the weak comparison against the congressmen who have dabbled their own money into Cisco opposed to the state run and controlled Huawei corporation currently headed by Ren Zhengfei who is an ex PLA Major and a member of the very opressive Communist Party of China..

This little spat is just starting to warm up...

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1. Thursday 29th November 2012 08:35 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re: Chairman Pot calls the kettle black..
  
  "Oh the irony... the fundemental difference is that the U.S. and other Western nations can and do live quite happily without Huawei comms kit.. but, could or would China survive without Cisco"?
  
  Stupid post.
  
  Many Tier-1, 2 ISPs have Huawei equipment in the backbone. Mostly on the Radio side, but as we speak my Director is in China to discuss kicking Cisco 7600 PE out of the network and replacing with Huawei PE.
  
  In our network, which is also outsourced to Huawei for support, we cannot log calls with Cisco or Juniper for vendor interoperability issues because neither will work with Huawei. Nor will they share their roadmaps the hate is so palpable.
  
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2. Thursday 29th November 2012 08:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re: Chairman Pot calls the kettle black..
  
  "but, could or would China survive without Cisco?"
  
  Yes..quite easily. Much of H's kit craps on Cisco's over hyped stuff. Even simple things like dual hotswap PSU's as standard in user switches? Listening Cisco?
  
  Next stupid question?
  
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  1. Thursday 29th November 2012 11:16 GMT Miek
    
    Re: Chairman Pot calls the kettle black..
    
    "the fundemental difference is that the U.S. and other Western nations can and do live quite happily without Huawei comms kit" -- That may be, but, Cisco's kit is also produced in China.
    
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3. Thursday 29th November 2012 17:41 GMT Dyson Lu
  
  Re: Chairman Pot calls the kettle black..
  
  "could or would China survive without Cisco?"
  
  Wow. Big display of ignorance there.
  
  Why do you think the US is going after Huawei? Because it's going to, if not already, replace Cisco. Huawei is "the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the world" (wikipedia). Cisco has become overrated. It's no longer 1990. Lots of companies can do what Cisco does, and often, they do it better than Cisco.
  
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Thursday 29th November 2012 08:04 GMT Androgynous Crackwhore

Coincidence?

but is clearly motivated by US investigations into Huawei and ZTE which recommended they should be treated with suspicion.

I also wonder if it might explain/justify/undermine stuff like this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/29/cisco_counterfeit_items_china/

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Thursday 29th November 2012 13:18 GMT tre4bax

Clearly a lot of posturing and focused on protectionism and developing yet more FUD.

The reason for you to be paranoid is if you believe your technical resources are not as skilled and would therefore not pick up something in the system designed to export your secrets. If they are skilled enough an approval process should be all that is necessary to ensure that the devices are safe from the risks.

Many years ago confronted with someone concerned at what the Chinese chips in their laptop could be exporting to China I pointed out that it was running an American operating system and that could well be doing the same. I mean what else is it doing in all the time it spends with an egg timer and disk activity for no apparent reason ;-)

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Friday 30th November 2012 00:19 GMT Anonymous Coward

I use both makers' kit

And the Huawei runs rings around CIsco at any given price point - even after $LARGE_ACADEMIC_DISCOUNT is applied - especially at the high end.

The level of the discount depends on if you believe the contracted reseller's "retail price" vs what you can actually pick one up for at any reputable outlet (They come frm the Comet school of "discount pricing")

The fact that standard trade pricing at Insight is only a couple points higher than the "heavily discounted pricing" underscores why Cisco is resorting to protectionist tactics.

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Saturday 1st December 2012 17:32 GMT Anonymous Coward

Probably a Chinese state sponsored plan to decimate western telecom technology

Chinese Telecom Equipment manufacturers are probably in league with the Chinese state to decimate western telecom technology capability.

This is not China bashing - one should have a lot of respect for ancient creativity and current work ethic of the Chinese people - However do you want ALL of your telecom equipment to be manufactured by a non-democratic autocratic regime?

That is what will happen if Ericsson, NSN, ALU are NOT allowed to compete on a level playing field.

One can never be sure when discussing China but one could make an educated guess that Huawei and ZTE enjoy cheap loans from the Chinese state owned banks. There may be state sponsored industrial espionage at play here as well. Europeans and other democracies have been allowing Huawei and ZTE to clean up.

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