Executives from Huawei and ZTE, the leading Chinese telecommunications equipment groups, have strongly denied that their companies have strong ties to Beijing or pose a national security risk to the US.

Both companies have been criticised by US lawmakers for allegedly stealing trade secrets from US companies including Cisco and Motorola, and for posing security threats to critical US infrastructure.

US intelligence experts and politicians have repeatedly expressed their concerns about Huawei and ZTE, including the relationship between Huawei, whose founder, Ren Zhengfe, was an officer in the Red Army, and the Chinese government. These people have also suggested that the two companies might pose a security risk if their advanced equipment was widely deployed by US telecoms operators.