Top US official urges allies to reject “deceitful” Huawei

Lluis Gene | AFP | Getty Images

Visitors pass in front of the Huawei’s stand on the first day of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelonaon on February 27, 2017 in Barcelona.

A top U.S. government official made the case against Huawei at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the telecom industry’s biggest trade show where the Chinese firm has a massive presence.

Robert Strayer, ambassador for cyber and international communications at the U.S. State Department, told reporters Huawei’s 5G infrastructure puts the U.S. and its allies at risk of Chinese spying, calling the company “duplicitous and deceitful.”

“The United States is asking other governments and the private sector to consider the threat posed by Huawei and other Chinese information technology companies,” Strayer said Tuesday.

U.S. officials fear the Chinese government could force Huawei to share information on citizens gathered through its telecoms equipment on new super-fast 5G networks. Strayer said Chinese law requires firms to “support and assist Beijing’s vast security apparatus, without any democratic checks and balance on access to, or use of data.”