A report of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)' Reconnecting Asia Project released on May 17, disclosed that CSIS researchers found 70 agreements in 41 countries between governments (or state-owned enterprises) and Huawei for its Cloud services. It said 77% of those agreements occurred in countries that Freedom House has ranked as either "not free" or "partly free," such as Saudi Arabia and Zambia while 72% of agreements were in middle-income countries, including Mexico and Malaysia. It said Middle-income countries without strong civil freedoms are the most common customers for Huawei's cloud and e-government services. It said Africa leads the way with 36 per cent of deals, followed by Asia (20 per cent), the Americas (17 per cent), Europe (17 per cent), and the Middle East (10 per cent). The report noted that despite facing legal and reputational challenges, Huawei’s offers are still gaining traction, with nearly half of the deals with known start dates announced since 2018.
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