* US companies warned to steer clear for fear of spying
* Panel to release report on Huawei and ZTE Corp Monday
* Chinese companies reject spying allegations
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - U.S. companies should avoid
doing business with China's Huawei, the world's No. 2 maker of
telecommunications gear, for fear its equipment could open doors
for spying, the head of the U.S. House of Representatives'
Intelligence Committee said.
"If I were an American company today ... and you are looking
at Huawei, I would find another vendor if you care about your
intellectual property; if you care about your consumers' privacy
and you care about the national security of the United States of
America," Chairman Mike Rogers said.
The Michigan Republican, a former FBI special agent, made
his comments to the CBS television program 60 Minutes to be
broadcast on Sunday. Excerpts provided by the program Friday did
not spell out any evidence to back up Rogers' concerns.
On Monday, the Intelligence panel will release the findings
of a nearly year-long investigation of the alleged security
risk, both from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and China's
ZTE Corp.
ZTE is also a Shenzhen, China-based telecommunications gear
maker, the world's fifth-ranking. The excerpts released by 60
Minutes did not include specific references to ZTE. It was not
immediately clear whether Rogers and the committee were
blackballing ZTE as well.
"One of the main reasons we are having this investigation is
to educate the citizens in business ... in the
telecommunications world," Representative C.A. Ruppersberger of
Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, told the program.
The committee believes allowing Huawei to build and maintain
large swaths of America's telecommunications infrastructure
opens a door for the Chinese government to spy on the U.S.
government and engage in industrial espionage, 60 Minutes said.
Huawei said in response that it was "globally trusted and
respected," doing business in almost 150 markets with more than
500 operator customers, including nationwide carriers across
every continent except Antarctica.
"The security and integrity of our products are world
proven," William Plummer, a company spokesman in Washington,
said in an email. "Those are the facts today. Those will be the
facts next week, political agendas aside."
The efforts of Huawei and ZTE in the United States have been
stymied by U.S. concerns over allegedly mounting Chinese
economic espionage, especially in cyberspace.
Huawei has marketed its network equipment in the United
States since last year and has sold to a range of small- to
medium-sized carriers nationwide, particularly in rural
areas. It has marketed mobile phones through a broader range of
U.S. carriers, for the last four years.
Both Huawei and ZTE have rejected charges that their
expansion in the United States poses a security risk and argue
they operate independently of the Chinese authorities.
