October 17, 2012 - 11:23 AMT
Huawei says U.S. report won’t affect its businesses

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said on Wednesday, Oct 17, a U.S. congressional committee probe into whether its access to communications infrastructure poses a security risk is unlikely to affect its businesses in other overseas markets, according to Reuters.

The House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee issued a report earlier this month urging U.S. companies to stop doing business with Huawei and ZTE Corp, the world's No.2 and No.5 telecommunications equipment vendors respectively, over security concerns.

The move has prompted Canada and Britain to also look into similar issues, sparking concerns that it could affect Huawei's business in other markets.

"No, I don't think there will be an impact," Huawei's Senior Vice President Zhang Chunxiang told Reuters, responding to a question on whether its other overseas business would be hit.

Zhang, who spoke on the sidelines of a business event in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, said both sides were still talking and that the U.S. investigation was a sign of trade protectionism.

"They investigated for 11 months and they didn't consider all the different material supplied by Huawei and they still came to that conclusion. They investigated like they never investigated at all," he said.

After the almost year-long investigation, the committee warned in a 52-page report that China could use equipment made by both companies to spy on certain communications and threaten vital systems through computerized links.

Huawei and ZTE have denied the allegations in the report. Huawei's U.S. spokesman, William Plummer, warned the panel's recommendations would set a "monstrous, market-distorting, trade-distorting policy precedent that could be used in other markets against American companies".