China's Ambassador to UK Slams Senior Tories' Anti-Huawei Stance as 'Witch-Hunt'

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that top Conservative lawmakers wrote a letter expressing concern over Huawei's participation in the construction of the UK's 5G network, referring to the company as an "untrusted and high-risk vendor."

Beijing's Ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming has slammed "a witch-hunt" carried out by senior Tories against Chinese tech giant Huawei, Reuters reported on Sunday.

"They are totally wrong, I think what they are doing is a kind of a witch-hunt. Huawei is a private-owned company, nothing to do with the Chinese government and the only problem they have is they are a Chinese company", Liu Xiaoming said in an interview with the BBC.

The senior official added that the Chinese authorities were pleased with the UK's decision to allow Huawei to take part in the construction of the 5G network.

In January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the United Kingdom would grant China’s Huawei a role in the launch of its national 5G networks, though limiting the company's involvement to 35 percent.

On 3 February, a group of US House Republicans led by Michael McCaul slammed the decision by the British government to allow Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s limited involvement in its domestic 5G networks, saying that the move could harm the historically “special relationship” between the US and UK.

Washington formally blacklisted Huawei and other Chinese technology companies in May 2019, citing their threats to US national security.

However, while top US tech giants including Microsoft, Intel, and Google have expressed concern that restrictions against Chinese companies could lead to billions of dollars in lost exports, the Treasury has repeatedly extended licenses allowing US tech companies to continue doing business with the Asian nation.