Huawei, ZTE deny any involvement that risks US security

"Our customers throughout the world trust Huawei. We will never do anything that undermines that trust. It would be immensely foolish for Huawei to risk involvement in national security or economic espionage" Huawei's President of Huawei North America, Charles Ding said in a written testimony.

He was summoned by US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence which is investigating the issue of alleged security threat on telecom infrastructure by Chinese firms.

Ding also clarified that "Neither the Chinese government nor the PLA has any ownership interest in our company or influence on our daily operations, investment decisions, profit distributions, or staffing."

ZTE's Senior Vice President for North America and Europe, Zhu Jinyun termed inquiry "very disturbing".

The Committee also asked whether ZTE will grant Chinese government access to its telecom equipment for any cyber attack.

"Let me answer emphatically: No! China's government has never made such a request. We expect the Chinese government never to make such a request of ZTE. If such a request were made, ZTE would be bound by US law," Zhu said.

HPSCI chairman Mike Rogers during the hearing on Thursday said: "Under Chinese law, ZTE and Huawei would likely be required to cooperate with any request by the Chinese government to use their systems or access for malicious purposes."

Responding to a query by the committee, Huawei's Ding said cyber security is a complex, global issue and the focus cannot be just on companies headquartered in China.

"Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens, Ericsson and Cisco