EYE SPY
Inside Huawei’s manufacturing empire – including the £1.2billion ‘research and development’ campus where staff sleep under desks during shifts
THESE fascinating pictures show the reality of life inside Huawei's manufacturing empire - including the £1.2bn research and development centre, where employees sleep at their desks during shifts.
The vast complex is packed with 18,000 workers and covers more space than London's Hyde Park.
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The photos give Westerners a rare-glimpse into the sprawling factories that keeps British and American spies up at night.
One shot shows young employees hunched over as they graft on a production line.
Another shows them glued to their smartphones as they queue for European-style cuisine in a lavish canteen.
One base at Songshan Lake near Dongguan, China, is known as the Huawei Xiliu Beipo Village - but is nicknamed the Ox Horn Campus in English.
BIGGER THAN HYDE PARK
One sector is based on French capital Paris - with other areas taking inspiration from Friboug, Switzerland, Heidelberg, Germany, Bruges, Belgium, and Oxford, England.
Each zone is linked by red trams imported from Switzerland.
Huawei's President Ren Zhengfei said: "140 years ago, the world's centre was in Pittsburgh because of steel; 70 years ago, the world's centre was in Detroit because of cars; now where is the centre of the world? I don't know, but it will be decentralised.
"Companies will move to places where the cost is low. High cost will destroy your competitiveness."
It comes after Theresa May gave Huawei the green light to supply part of Britain’s 5G network.
The US has banned Huawei from government networks and urged the UK and other intelligence partners such as Australia to do the same.
Chinese firms are legally obliged to cooperate with Beijing’s state intelligence agencies.
Why was Gavin Williamson sacked?
On May 1, 2019, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was sacked for leaking documents from a spies' summit.
The Cabinet minister was confronted by Theresa May and accused of breaking his vow to keep Government secrets.
He allegedly told journalists that Theresa May was planning to allow Chinese state-linked firm Huawei to build Britain's mobile network despite spooks' fears the company is a massive security risk.
Mr Williamson initially faced calls to be prosecuted for allegedly breaking the Official Secrets Act and MPs have written to the police to demand an investigation.
But he furiously denied wrongdoing and insisted he is innocent of leaking - telling The Sun: "I did not leak this, and to my dying day I will keep on insisting that."
Scotland Yard though said the leak did not amount to a criminal offence.
Mr Williamson has pointed the finger at Sir Mark Sedwill saying he's the one who named him as the leaker before the investigation even began.
He called the search by Britain's top civil servant a "shabby and discredited witch hunt".
And he demanded a "proper, full and impartial" investigation to clear his name.
The Huawei leak came from the ultra-secretive National Security Council, where top ministers meet with MI5 and MI6 bosses.
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Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was later sacked for leaking top-secret documents about the move.
The Cabinet minister was confronted by Theresa May and accused of breaking his vow to keep Government secrets.
He allegedly told journalists that Theresa May was planning to allow Huawei to build Britain's mobile network despite spooks' fears the company is a massive security risk.
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