That means that Huawei’s attempts to overcome security concerns and become a supplier to the NBN in Australia have also suffered a major setback, As the US elections draw closer it’s become political, and both parties want appear tough on China. They are spooked. That means the Australian government, which very much follows the US lead in such things, is also spooked

The chairman of the US government committee investigating Huawei has said to “find another vendor” if you care about national security.The American CBS Network has aired a major segment on its high rating 60 Minutes program which quoted leading US congressmen, from both sides of the house, as saying that Huawei’s Chinese connections meant its products were a security risk to the USA.

The congressmen are leading members of the House Intelligence Committee, which will report today on whether it believes Huawei is a threat to US security risk. The results have been already been leaked by Dow Jones Newswires, and confirm that both Huawei and mobile phone company ZTE will be branded security risks and barred from supplying the US government. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that Huawei may be seeking an IPO (initial public offering) enabling it to list on the NYSE or NASDAQ so that its corporate governance will be seen to be more transparent.

The congressman interviewed on 60 Minutes were Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger and Republican Mike Rogers. “One of the main reasons we are having this investigation is to educate the citizens in business in the United States of America,” said Ruppersberger, the committee’s ranking Democrat.

“One of the main reasons we are having this investigation is to educate the citizens in business in the United States of America,” said Ruppersberger when interviewed on 60 Minutes. “In the telecommunications world, once you get the camel's nose in the tent, you can go anywhere.

“The overriding concern is that the Chinese government could exploit Huawei's presence on US networks to intercept high level communications, gather intelligence, wage cyber war, and shut down or disrupt critical services in times of national emergency.”

Congressman Rogers was even more scathing. “If I were an American company today, and I'll tell you this as the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 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.”

The show also featured extended comments from analyst Jim Lewis, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a well-known Huawei critic. “Communications is a strategic industry. And it's like aircraft or space launch, or computers, IT. It's a strategic industry in the sense that an opponent can gain serious advantage, can gain serious benefit from being able to exploit the telecommunications network.

“Huawei got so big because of steady, extensive support from the Chinese government. If you're willing to funnel hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of dollars to a company, they're going to be able to grow. The second reason is industrial espionage. And Huawei was famous in their developing years for taking other people's technology.” Indeed it was – Huawei settled high profile IP cases brought by Cisco and Motorola out of court.

Huawei’s US vice president of external relations, Bill Plummer, was given right of reply. “The suggestion that a company by virtue of its heritage or flag of headquarters is somehow more vulnerable than any other company to some sort of mischief. Huawei is just another multinational corporation doing business in the United States, no different than Siemens, Samsung or Hyundai.

“Huawei buys six billion dollars in components from American suppliers every year and indirectly employs 35,000 Americans. It poses no threat.”