HispanicBusiness

Chinese information technology and telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on Monday rejected a U.S. claim that it posed a security threat, suggesting that a congressional report on its operations was a product of "political agendas."

The U.S. House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee was scheduled to release a report later Monday following a hearing on "the security threat posed by Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE."

"Huawei is a globally trusted and respected company doing business in almost 150 markets with over 500 operator customers including nationwide carriers across every continent save Antarctica," said William Plummer, a US-based spokesman for Huawei.

"The security and integrity of our products are world proven," Plummer said.

"Those are the facts today. Those will still be the facts next week, political agendas aside," he said.

China's Foreign Ministry said the US action was a product of "bias," adding that all Chinese telecommunications companies "operate internationally in accordance with market economic principles."

"The investment of Chinese telecom companies in the United States has reflected the mutual benefit and win-win nature of Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations," ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

"We hope the US Congress can respect the truth and overcome bias so as to boost bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Hong said.

Speaking at last month's hearing, Mike Rogers, chairman of the intelligence committee, said the two firms were "companies with believed ties to the Chinese government."

But Huawei, China's largest private firm, denied having any links to government departments and said it was wholly owned by thousands of shareholding employees.

Overseas sales accounted for 70 percent of Huawei's total of $32 billion last year. Its U.S. sales were worth some $1.3 billion, or 4 percent of its global total.

The much smaller ZTE also rejected the US charges and said its development was based on its founder's "commercial vision, not something imposed or mandated by China's government."

The recent US action followed an Australian government decision in March to bar Huawei, which employs some 150,000 in about 150 countries, from bidding on national broadband network contracts over security concerns.