The German government possesses evidence that Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei cooperated with Chinese intelligence, according to a new report.
The U.S. government has urged its allies to boycott the vendor over national security concerns, warning that the company’s equipment could be used by the Chinese state to spy on other countries.
“At the end of 2019, intelligence was passed to us by the U.S., according to which Huawei is proven to have been cooperating with China’s security agencies,” a classified Federal Foreign Office document said, according to German newspaper Handelsblatt.
The evidence passed to Germany amounted to a “smoking gun,” according to the document.
“Chinese companies cannot be considered trustworthy enough to meet the security standards needed to build 5G networks,” according to the document.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has long warned that the technology could be used by the Chinese government for espionage or cyber sabotage, while Chancellor Angela Merkel has favored strict security requirements for the country’s 5G network but is opposed to barring individual companies.
Huawei denied that it has cooperated with Chinese intelligence.
“Huawei Technologies has never, and will never, do anything to compromise the security of networks and data of its customers,” the company said in response to the report.
Britain defied the U.S. government on Tuesday, announcing that it would allow the Chinese firm to build portions of its high-speed wireless network.
The country designated Huawei a “high-risk vendor” but said it would be allowed to build noncore elements of the network. Huawei technology would also be banned from nuclear sites and military bases, according to the British government.
American officials have threatened to stop sharing intelligence with allies who did not ban Huawei.
