Thursday 07 March 2019 7:22 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 1:07 am

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei sues US government after federal equipment ban in wake of spying claims

Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei has sued the US government, saying a law introduced in August which limits its US business is unconstitutional.

The embattled telecoms maker filed a complaint in a federal court in Texas on Thursday against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), part of which prevents federal agencies and their contractors from procuring equipment and services from the Chinese firm.

The lawsuit marks the latest escalation between Huawei and the US, after last year’s arrest of the phone maker’s chief financial officer in Canada at the request of Donald Trump's government.

“The US congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products. We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort,” Huawei rotating chairman Guo Ping said in a statement.

“This ban not only is unlawful, but also restricts Huawei from engaging in fair competition, ultimately harming U.S. consumers. We look forward to the court’s verdict.”

Huawei’s market share is small in the US, but it is the world’s biggest telecoms consumer hardware maker and wants to position itself at the forefront of a global roll out of 5G mobile networks and services.

Huawei said its “equipment and services are subject to advanced security procedures, and no backdoors, implants, or other intentional security vulnerabilities have been documented in any of the more than 170 countries in the world where Huawei equipment and services are used.”

The US government has accused Huawei of spying on behalf of the Chinese government, encouraging allies to follow its move of blocking Huawei from providing equipment for the new 5G network.

New Zealand and Australia, who are members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing operation alongside the US, both handed a 5G network ban to the company last year.

In February, the heads of six intelligences agencies in the US, including the CIA, FBI and NSA, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that they were “deeply concerned” about Huawei and warned users against buying its products.