Huawei blasts Australian security concerns
CGTN
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(Photo: CGTN)

Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said Australian claims it poses a security risk are “ill-informed” as it published an open letter on Monday that threatens to inflame already heightened Sino-Canberra tensions.

Huawei is likely to be banned by Australia from participating in a 5G mobile telecommunications roll-out in the nation as it fears China de facto controls Huawei and sensitive infrastructure will fall into the hands of Beijing, according to Australian media reports.

Huawei denies the allegations, and in a move that threatens to draw Australian politicians into a public spat that will further strain relations with China, dismissed Canberra’s security concerns.

“Recent public commentary around China has referenced Huawei and its role in Australia and prompted some observations around security concerns,” Huawei Australia Chairman John Lord and board directors John Brumby and Lance Hockridge wrote in the unprecedented letter.

“Many of these comments are ill-informed and not based on facts.”

Huawei said it operates in 170 countries, abiding by national laws and guidelines. The company said it has 5G investments in Britain, Canada and New Zealand where it said the respective governments had taken up its offer to evaluate the company’s technology to make sure it abide by cybersecurity protocols.

A spokesman for Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Huawei’s letter.

Australia has longstanding concerns about Huawei. 

In 2012 it banned the company from supplying its massive National Broadband Network, and in May Canberra committed millions of dollars to ensure Huawei did not build an Internet cable between Australia and the Solomon Islands.