A report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has pointed out that Chinese telecom gear manufacturer Huawei Technologies is close to the People’s Liberation Army of China.

“Huawei is a well established supplier of specialized telecommunications equipment, training and related technology to the PLA that has, along with others such as Zhongxing and Datang, received direct funding for R&D on C41SR systems capabilities. All of these firms originated as state research institutes and continue to receive preferential funding and support from the PLA,” says the Commission.

The findings of the report whose study spread over a period of 8 months were basically to determine the magnitude of threat of cyber attacks to USA and its defence establishments from China in wake of a war.

The report claims that the Chinese government is actively supporting hackers and supporting cyber warfare & espionage. It points out sustained cyber espionage carried out against one unnamed US company. It further cautions that the Chinese espionage operations were actually straining the US capacity to respond.

For Huawei the allegations of its association with the PLA refuse to die-down even as the company repeatedly denies any such association.

Even in India, PSU BSNL decided to award part of its mega GSM contract to Huawei only for the Southern zone amidst fears and apprehensions about the background of the company. It is alleged that one of the founders of Huawei has served the PLA in the past. BSNL says that since the Southern zone of India does not shares any geographical borders with China, there is no danger in awarding the contract to Huawei for the region.