Huawei security plan due soon

LONDON: Huawei will present a plan to address British security concerns about its equipment by the end of the first half of this year, a senior company executive said this week, following criticism the Chinese firm has not moved fast enough to fix the issues.

British intelligence officials earlier said they had not yet seen a ‘‘credible’’ plan by Huawei to resolve issues raised in a critical government report last year, which found that technical and supplychain problems with the company’s equipment had exposed national telecom networks to new security risks.

Huawei previously said the problems would take three to five years to resolve, and Ryan Ding, head of Huawei’s carrier business group, told reporters a ‘‘global and comprehensive’’ plan was expected to be approved internally by the end of March.

‘‘In Q2 we will talk to all our stakeholders, including UK stakeholders, about such a plan and hopefully by the end of the first half of this year we will complete the high level design of such [a] plan,’’ he said, speaking through a translator.

Britain has emerged as a key battleground for Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, in its efforts to resist United States calls for allies to ditch its equipment over fears that it could be used for spying.

No evidence for such claims has been produced publicly and Huawei has repeatedly denied them.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday the United States, which is a member of the Five Eyes intelligencesharing group alongside Britain, would not be able to share information with countries that decide to use Huawei equipment due to the security implications. — Reuters