Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei’s top lobbyist says that despite rumors the oft-maligned company is abandoning the U.S. market, its lobbying shop won’t be leaving Washington anytime soon.

The company, which is one of the world’s largest telecom manufacturers, has been accused by members of Congress and the administration of being a front for Chinese military and intelligence agencies, and last week, the Huawei’s chief executive officer implied that company had had enough and was moving out of the American market.

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American executives of the company quickly down played the comments, but according to OpenSecrets.org data, after an enormous investment in lobbying last year, the company’s lobbying effort this year has been sharply curtailed.

Huawei’s lobbying efforts have been scaled back because attacks on the company’s credibility have eased, though — not because the company is giving up its effort to win over skeptical American officials, said the company’s top lobbyist, William Plummer.

In 2010, Huawei spent $350,000 on federal lobbying, rising to $425,000 in 2011 — but in 2012, its spending almost tripled to $1.2 million. Through the first three quarters of 2013, the company has spent $475,000. The decline has nothing to do with Huawei’s interest in the American market, Plummer said, and everything to do with a report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that accused Huawei of being part of an elaborate sabotage effort by the Chinese military

“Last year we were experiencing the HPSCI witch-hunt so staffed up accordingly,” Plummer told OpenSecrets Blog. “In the wake of their vacuous report, we adjusted outside resources accordingly. No change in tack.”

The report noted it found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, but that hasn’t stopped American officials from being skeptical — or downright hostile. Just this week, in response to the company’s announcement that it had signed a deal with South Korea, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) issued a statement saying the deal could harm South Korea’s military relationship with the United States.

The focus of Huawei’s efforts in Washington has been almost exclusively on smoothing over concerns about cybersecurity and foreign investment, according to the company’s lobbying reports over the years — and that’s true so far in 2013 as well. In 2009, the company listed lobbying on “growth in the U.S.” and visas. By 2010, the company said its sole focus was “foreign investment issues,” and in 2011 the reports added “security-related issues”.

Assuaging fears about the company became the dominant issue in 2012, with the HPSCI report cited specifically, along with “Introduction of Huawei and its telecommunications services.” That year, the company reported lobbying not only Congress but the State Department, the White House and the Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce. This year, the company is concentrating on Congress, the State Department and Federal Trade Commission.

Follow Russ on Twitter: @russchoma

Images: The Huawei booth during the PT/EXPO COMM CHINA 2013 in Beijing, China, 24 2013 (Imaginechina via AP Images)



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