India blacklists Chinese phone companies over spying concerns

Huawei HQ

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
The government of India has officially barred a number of Chinese telephone equipment providers from operating in India, citing their strong links with the Chinese military. At the center of the move is Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest telephone equipment manufacturers. Several intelligence insiders see the company, based in Shenzen, China, as a covert arm of the intelligence wing of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The company, which has business concerns in several countries around the world, has attracted the attention of American, British and Australian counterintelligence agencies, among others. In early 2008, the US government prohibited Huawei’s purchase of a significant amount of shares in US network security equipment maker 3Com, which supplies telecommunications hardware to the US Department of Defense. Back then, representatives from Huawei described the American government’s security fears as “ludicrous and inaccurate”. Company officials will reportedly be meeting later this week with Indian representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, the National Security Council, and the Home Affairs and Communications ministries, in an effort to dispel India’s security concerns. A Chinese government delegation is also on its way to New Delhi. Chinese government sources are indirectly accusing India of “trade protectionism” and are threatening that the move may trigger a major trade war between India and China.