There's a lot here beyond just the hacking. Huawei was able to grow so insanely fast because they had access to a blank check and endless credit from the Chinese government. Nortel and others meanwhile had to finance things themselves.
Private companies cannot compete with governments. Governments, especially those with sovereign currencies, can do things that private companies simply cannot do and have pockets far deeper than any private company can ever hope to have. That's why China has won the global game. Everyone else is fielding their star players, sure, but China's star players are all on 'roids in the form of endless government backed credit and many other forms of state backing.
To see an American example, look at American dominance of aerospace. America has stealth fighters, probably a ton of secret stuff responsible for a good number of UFO reports, and rockets that land themselves because the US government backs promising aerospace companies generously. This has been the case since WWII. Lockheed Skunk Works is almost 100% government funded. SpaceX isn't entirely government funded but they've certainly benefited from NASA funding, NASA R&D handholding, and in the beginning got a transfer of IP related to NASA's previous research into low-cost rocket engines. Without all NASA's help I doubt they'd be where they are now.
China is doing this everywhere with everything.