Australia upholds ban on Huawei contract bid

Australia has maintained a ban issued by the previous Labor government to bar China's Huawei telecom company from bidding for the country's high-speed national Internet program, local media reported.

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

The previous government's decision not to permit Huawei to tender for the National Broadband Network was based on advice from the national security agencies, Brandis told media. "Since the election the current government has had further briefings from the national security agencies, and no decision has been made by the new government to change that existing policy," he was quoted as saying.

"The decision of the previous government not to permit Huawei to tender for the NBN was made on advice from the national security agencies," Brandis told AFP in e-mailed comments.

The new government has announced a strategic review of the NBN in hopes of cutting its cost to AU$29.5 billion ($28 billion). Huawei is hoping for a change of stance in the wake of the review.

However, Communication Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Trade Minister Andrew Robb recently provided support to review the ban, raising hope the controversial policy would be relaxed.

China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday criticized the continued isolation of Huawei from Australian government contracts.

"Chinese companies conduct their operations and cooperation based on market rules," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. "It's mutually beneficial and serves the interests of both sides, as well as economic and social development of the two countries, and we are opposed to the interference of normal business cooperation under the pretext of national security."

She added, "We hope the two sides can work together to create conditions for companies of our two countries to engage in normal business cooperation."

Brandis' comments come after Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology provider, mounted an intense lobbying campaign in Canberra for the ban to be lifted, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Huawei Australia issued a short statement to media saying "it understands no decisions have been made by the government regarding the NBN".

A local analyst told Xinhua that the current conservative government's decision would be a big blow to its relationship with China, a major trading partner, when the two countries were struggling to reach a free trade agreement, which Prime Minister Tony Abbott hoped to achieve within a year.

Xinhua-AFP

(China Daily 10/30/2013 page11)