Intelligence and Security Committee must investigate Huawei

The Green Party has written and formally requested that the Intelligence and Security Committee undertake an investigation into Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company and equipment supplier, after the Australian Government blocked Huawei from their national broadband network contracts. Huawei has major New Zealand contracts and will be involved in the roll-out of the Government’s ultra-fast broadband initiative and rural broadband initiative.

“Huawei has been blocked in both Australia and the United States over security concerns and it’s hard to believe our security agencies know something about Huawei that Australia and the United States don’t,” said Green Party ICT spokesperson Gareth Hughes.

“Cyber warfare is a major security concern and the Government needs to ensure that it is protecting the interests of New Zealanders and New Zealand Companies.

“The New Zealand taxpayer will be purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment and services off Huawei, and the Government needs to demonstrate that this doesn’t have any strings attached that will harm our cyber security.

“The Government needs to investigate, and it would not be in New Zealand’s national security interests to ignore these concerns for fear of offending the Chinese Government,” said Mr Hughes.

Russel Norman’s letter to the Intelligence and Security Committee can be accessed from http://www.greens.org.nz/sites/default/files/lettertosic.pdf