China said on Friday the EU does not have any evidence against the Chinese communication companies over the security concerns expressed by the bloc, calling it a “presumption of guilt.”
“The EU says that Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese
communication companies have security risks but cannot produce any evidence,
which is a typical presumption of guilt,” said Wang Wenbin, China’s Foreign
Ministry spokesman, told a daily press briefing in ∂Beijing.
Beijing responded after the European Commission decided on
Thursday that it will not use 5G telecom services provided by Chinese companies
Huawei and ZTE due to security risks.
Expressing “firm opposition” to the EU move, Wang “strongly
urged” the EU to “abide by international economic and trade rules and refrain
from suppressing other countries’ enterprises in the name of security,”
reported Chinese daily Global Times.
“The security of networks is essential for all of us in
Europe,” said Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for internal market, at a news
conference on Wednesday, presenting the latest progress report on the EU’s 5G
toolbox on cybersecurity.
The European Commission will “implement the 5G toolbox
principle to its own procurement of telecom services to avoid exposure to
Huawei and ZTE,” added Breton.
He also stressed that the EU executive body urges member
states to speed up decisions “to replace high-risk suppliers from their 5G
networks.”
The US, UK, Australia, Japan, India, and Canada have
recently taken similar steps.