CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA (AP) - An official of Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies says he is concerned that new Australian laws to protect crucial communication networks could exclude companies from bidding for work simply because they are Chinese.
John Lord, chairman of the subsidiary Huawei Technologies (Australia) Pty. Ltd., made the comments Friday to an Australian parliamentary committee that is examining proposed laws to safeguard critical infrastructure from threats such as cyberattacks.
The subsidiary was barred on security grounds from working on a national broadband network.
The hearing comes the same week that the U.S. House Intelligence Committee quizzed Huawei and ZTE Corp. executives as part of a yearlong probe into whether the Chinese companies pose a threat to U.S. national security.
Huawei denies posing any threat.
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