Analysis of NSA documents released by the whistleblower Edward Snowden has shown that the US spy agency directly targeted equipment manufactured by China's Huawei.
The documents show that at least two, possibly three projects that were given individual codenames targeted Huawei routers, firewalls and network equipment known to have been sold to at least three major mobile network operators.
As a telecoms equipment vendor, Huawei would have been just one of many telecoms manufacturers targeted by the US spies.
Although Huawei has always denied it, there are these persistent allegations that the company was some sort of backdoor for Chinese spies, and yet it finds itself in the curious position of having been targeted to act as a backdoor for US spies instead.
The documents raise some uncomfortable questions, particularly for politicians who have accused the company of being a front for the Chinese military.
In October 2012, the USA's House Intelligence Committee carried out an investigation and concluded by recommending that US firms avoid doing business with the Chinese supplier, although much of the report's allegations appeared to be based on dissatisfaction with the company shareholding structure and openness than any proven security threat.
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