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The chairman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee...

The chairman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said they remained concerned with what they see as a national security threat posed by two Chinese telecommunications companies, Huawei and ZTE. Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Ranking Member…

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Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., asked in separate letters Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnbsth) that executives from Huawei and ZTE answer more than a dozen detailed questions about the companies’ corporate and financial connections with the Chinese government. The committee has been investigating the extent to which these companies provide the Chinese government an opportunity for increased foreign espionage, threaten critical infrastructure, and further the opportunity for Chinese economic espionage (CD Nov 18 p5). Rogers and Ruppersberger asked Huawei and ZTE executives specific questions about their companies’ interactions with Chinese government officials; the funding they receive from Chinese agencies; the information they share with the Chinese government; their cybersecurity practices; and their business relationships with Iran, among other queries. Huawei welcomes the opportunity to “further enhance” the committee’s understanding of the facts, “after which we look forward to re-focused attention to addressing the true threats to critical infrastructure from the global information and communications technology supply chain,” Vice President Bill Plummer said. “Huawei shares concerns related to network security,” he said. “We support universal and industry-wide solutions to effectively address cyber threats and vulnerabilities.” ZTE didn’t comment.