According to the Financial Times, the Chinese are coming out to bat for Huawei, which the US government insists - without providing evidence - that it is spying on behalf of the Chinese government.

Ambassador Zhang Ming told the FT that efforts to limit involvement of Chinese technology in upcoming 5G projects in Europe might bring “serious consequences to the global economic and scientific co-operation".

"It is not helpful to make slander, discrimination, pressure, coercion or speculation against anyone else”, Zhang said of the cyber security concerns about Chinese companies that have deepened in Europe as the US has pressed for an increasingly tough line.

“Now someone is sparing no effort to fabricate a security story about Huawei. I do not think that this story has anything to do with security.”

He warned that global industrial, supply and value chains were “highly intertwined” in the 5G market — in which Huawei is a leading equipment maker— and so could not be “artificially and deliberately cut” by anyone. 

To do so would be “very irresponsible”, he said, and might bring “serious consequences to the global economic and scientific co-operation.” Asked how China would react if EU countries went down a path it considered discriminatory, Mr Zhang said Beijing would seek dialogue and to appeal to the European commitment to the “rules-based global order”. He added: “But anyway, I don’t think that protectionism is a good way out. Co-operation is.”