Accusations about "information security" directed toward Chinese communication equipment should based on facts or investigative results rather than concerns raised by possible "vulnerabilities", observers said on Tuesday after British ministries dumped Chinese products.
British government departments such as the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Crown Prosecution Service are all said to have stopped using equipment manufactured by Chinese telecom company Huawei amid fears they are being used by the Chinese government to eavesdrop, according to a report by the UK's Sunday Mirror.
A briefing was sent to all ministerial departments urging them to stop using the video-conferencing equipment, the newspaper said, adding that there are possible "vulnerabilities" that have caused widespread concern.
The former head of the Foreign Office's Asia research group, Roderic Wye, told the paper "there had long been fears about the firm's operations".
He said: "It's a matter of record that the United States and Australia have had real concerns about Huawei. The UK has been rather more open and there is quite a bit of Huawei investment in this country.
"But there clearly remain concerns over how close the relationship is between Huawei and the Chinese government — and whether it could be a risk using the firm's technology in sensitive areas."
Huawei said the accusation was misleading and without any evidence.
"Our video conferencing equipment is based on global standards, so to suggest it is specifically open to abuse would be misleading," said a statement from the company's UK branch.
"We are a private, employee-owned company, and we share the same goal as our customers — to raise the standard of cybersecurity, and to ensure technology benefits consumers."
Xiang Ligang, a Beijing- based telecom expert, said the biggest threat to information security is not from the equipment but people's actions.
"Huawei has been shut out of the US market for the same reason, but from the Edward Snowden case we see that the US government, which doesn't use Huawei's products, was monitoring their own citizens, foreign diplomats and other countries' officials," Xiang said.
He Maochun, director of the Economy and Diplomacy Research Center at Tsinghua University, said it is unfair to dump Chinese products because of fear rather than evidence.
"Many Chinese telecom companies such as Lenovo, ZTE and Huawei are treated unfairly in Western markets for similar reasons. And the cases are likely to appear when Chinese telecom products are entering their markets on a large scale," He said.
The director said Chinese companies can improve transparency on information security and give foreign markets more confidence in their products.
"Industrial associations and the Chinese government should try to support the companies to pursue more legal measures to protect the rights they deserve," he added.
Many British products, such as financial services and construction equipment, are imported to China every year. If China treated UK companies the same way, it would be unfair to the British companies, the director said.
英国政府部门周二弃用中国华为公司的产品后，观察者称对于中国通信设备有关“信息安全”方面的指控应当建立在事实和调查结果而非可能存在的“漏洞”之上。
据英国《星期日镜报》报道称，英国内政部、司法部和皇家检察署等部门均已停止使用中国华为公司制造的视频会议设备，以防中国政府利用这些设备进行窃听活动。
《星期日镜报》称，一份高层简报已被分发至英国各内阁部门，通知停止使用由华为公司制造的视频会议设备。报道还称，一些可能存在的“漏洞”已经引起了广泛的关注。
英国外交部亚洲研究小组前负责人Roderic Wye称，“对华为公司业务运营的担忧存在已久”。
他说：“美国和澳大利亚对华为公司的运营一直存在切实的担忧，这是有案可查的事情。英国在此方面的态度一直开放得多，华为公司在英国有大量的投资。”
“但显然如今仍然有担忧表示不了解华为公司与中国政府之间的关系紧密到何种程度，也就是说在一些敏感领域使用华为公司的设备是否意味着会带来风险。”
华为公司反击称这些指控为无稽之谈，且存在误导性。
“我们的视频会议设备都是符合国际标准的，因此暗示它们被用作特殊用途的做法是存在误导性的。”华为英国分公司发表声明称。
“我们是一家私营的员工持股公司，我们与顾客有着共同的目标，那就是提高网络安全标准，保证将技术造福于顾客。”
项立刚是北京的一名电信专家，他说，信息安全面临的最大威胁不是设备，而是人为的做法。
“华为公司就是因为这一原因而一直没有进入美国市场，从斯诺登事件我们可以看到，没有使用华为产品的美国政府，却在监控他们自己的市民、其他国家的外交人员和政府工作人员。”
清华大学经济外交研究中心主任何茂春说，英国政府因为对窃听活动的担心而非事实的证据拆除华为公司设备的行为是不公平的。
“很多中国的电信公司，比如联想、中兴和华为等等，都因为相似的理由在西方市场受到不公平的待遇，尤其是当中国的电信产品大规模地占据它们的市场份额的时候。”
何茂春说，中国公司应当提高自身在信息安全方面的透明度，增强外国市场对于其产品的信心。
“行业协会和中国政府也应当尽力支持这些公司利用法律手段维护自身的合法权利。”
另外，何茂春补充说，中国每年都会进口很多英国产品，包括金融服务和建筑设备等等。如果中国政府以同样的方式对待英国公司，那对于英国公司来讲也是不公平的。
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