UK Government: Huawei and ZTE are safe

In light of reports from the US Intelligence Committee saying Huawei and ZTE should be banned, the UK government has revealed it has no issue with the Chinese manufacturers.

TechRadar spent some time chatting to Derek Smith, a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, who explained that the UK government has no concerns about Huawei and ZTE.

Smith told us: "Comparisons with the US don't hold up with what we're doing here. We have a very strict evaluation process for products from any country, not just China, coming into the UK."

Huawei Evaluation Centre

More specifically in the case of Huawei, there is an additional level of security which all of its devices pass through before being allowed into the British market, and this process has been running for a number of years now.

Several years ago Huawei approached the UK government to discuss the standards and requirements for products to be allowed into the country, and in 2010 the Huawei Evaluation Centre was opened in Basingstoke.

At the centre, government security experts and Hauwei staff work together to ensure the Chinese firm's products meet the strict security standards the UK has put in place.

Standards continually met

Talking about the Evaluation Centre Smith said: "It ensures our standards are continually met.

"Huawei is a major company in the UK, with a growing footprint and it works very closely with other telecommunication firms as well as government."

The long standing relationship the UK government has with Huawei, and the continued work between the two parties, means the Cabinet Office is confident that there are no security concerns.

What about ZTE?

ZTE doesn't have an evaluation centre like Huawei's here in the UK, however this doesn't mean the government turns a blind eye to its activities.

Smith noted: "The government's responsibility is to identify, mitigate and defend, and the evaluation process for all products entering the country is very strict."

ZTE has already said: "Our equipment is safe and poses no threat to the US", and has provided a whole raft of evidence documenting the reasons why.

So while it looks like the United States is getting its knickers in a twist about products it potentially hasn't screened – for whatever reason – we're sitting pretty here in the UK, safe in the knowledge that the government has our back. That is, of course, if you trust the government…