Beijing has hit back at renewed calls by the European Commission to ban Huawei and ZTE from the 5G digital networks of all 27 member countries. The European Union's industry chief Thierry Breton has urged more member states in the bloc to join the 10 countries which have already restricted or banned the Chinese telecom firms.

But a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the commission had no legal basis or factual evidence to prohibit the use of technology made by the telecoms giants.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: "The European Commission keeps saying that Chinese telecommunications vendors like Huawei and ZTE pose security risks, but they cannot provide any evidence. This is a typical case of presumption of guilt. China firmly opposes this."

He said Chinese telecommunication companies had operated in Europe for many years and had not only never compromised the security of European countries but had contributed significantly to the development of the telecoms sector, leading to substantial economic and social benefits.

Wang insisted it was against the spirit of the rule of law and blatantly violated the principles of the market economy, free trade and fair competition that the EU countries had always advocated.

High-risk 5G vendors

The EU guidelines adopted two years ago call on all 27 member states to assess the risk profile of suppliers on a national as well as EU level. If they believe there is a risk, then they are urged to restrict or ban those deemed to be high-risk 5G vendors from core parts of their telecoms networks.

Breton has voiced concerns in the recent past that some EU countries still have what some perceive as high-risk components in their 5G core network. He cited intrusive third-country laws on national intelligence and data security – a veiled reference to China.

Breton told a press conference, "To date, only 10 of them have used these prerogatives to restrict or exclude high-risk vendors. This is too slow and it poses a major security risk and exposes the Union's collective security, since it creates a major dependency for the EU and serious vulnerabilities."

He went on to insist that the decisions taken by the 10 EU countries to curb or block Huawei and ZTE were absolutely justified and were in line with the bloc's 5G guidelines. He urged telecom operators to take the same action.

He said the European Commission would also ban both companies from its own procurement of telecoms services and called on all EU institutions to do the same.

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