Australia upholds ban on China’s Huawei to bid for national high speed internet program

MELBOURNE – Australia on Tuesday maintained a ban issued by the previous labor government to bar China’s telecom company Huawei from bidding for the country’s high speed national internet program, local media reported.

According to reports, Australian Attorney-General George Brandis has issued a statement, indicating that the government would uphold the ban due to security concerns.

Local analyst told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the current conservative government’s decision would give a big blow to its relation with its major trading partner China when the two countries are struggling to reach a free trade agreement in a year.

Huawei Australia was banned by the former Labor government earlier this year from tendering for Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) project over security reasons. Recently, the United States also issued a congressional report, saying Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom company, pose a security threat to the United States and should be barred from U.S. contracts and acquisitions.

However, the U.S. report were dismissed by Huawei Australia Chairman John Lord as “protectionism”, not security.