BEIJING: A spokesman with China’s commerce ministry said Friday that it was “unjust” for the Australian government to ban Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei from bidding on local broadband network contracts, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
Huawei Technologies has been rejected by the Australian government from bidding for work on a 35.9 billion Australian dollar high-speed broadband network for cyber security reasons.
Shen Danyang, a spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce, said that China is “deeply concerned” over the matter and Australia should not preclude Chinese companies from fair market competitions in the name of security.
Huawei has provided broadband network equipment and services for many countries around the globe, and Huawei Australia, which was bidding for the contract, has been operating in Australia for almost 10 years without any unfavourable record, he said.
Nearly 90 percent of employees of Huawei Australia are Australians, Shen added.
The spokesman stressed that China and Australia had signed a bilateral investment treaty, and that trade and economic cooperation have intensified between the two countries in recent years.
Both sides should create a fair and discrimination-free market environment and promote the healthy development of Sino-Australian economic and trade ties with an open and constructive attitude, he said. –Bernama