Today, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party has raised concerns about the Eclipse Foundation's support for Huawei's operating systems, HarmonyOS and OpenHarmony. Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) have sent a letter to the non-profit organization questioning its collaboration with these systems and their connection to the OpenAtom Foundation.
Huawei developed HarmonyOS and OpenHarmony as alternatives to leading mobile operating systems like Android by Google and iOS by Apple. These systems are also intended for use in various products beyond smartphones, including connected vehicles and smart devices.
The committee members are concerned about how sensitive information is protected from potential access by the Chinese Communist Party through these operating systems. The letter points out that despite being open-source, OpenHarmony receives substantial code contributions from Huawei. The U.S. government considers Huawei a national security threat due to its connections with the Chinese Communist Party.
Chairman Moolenaar stated, "HarmonyOS is developed and owned by Huawei which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party—plain and simple. It gives Beijing control over the software running on phones, cars, and smart devices around the world."
Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi emphasized caution against integrating these operating systems globally: “We should not let the wolf of Huawei into our henhouse. Rather than being reactive once HarmonyOS and Open Harmony are embedded in devices around the world, we should be proactive and make sure American operating systems continue to be global leaders.”
The letter includes questions for Eclipse Foundation regarding technical mechanisms within OpenAtom and OpenHarmony that mitigate Huawei's influence, whether there has been a third-party audit of potentially exploitable codebases by state actors like China’s CCP, and policies to safeguard critical information from China's National Security Law mandates.
"We are actively working to encourage the global community to utilize trusted operating systems," concludes the letter, underscoring organizations like Eclipse Foundation's role in maintaining digital security integrity worldwide.
