China's Huawei 'maintained calm' during NSA hacking reports

SHENZHEN (REUTERS) - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd "maintained calm" and operated "business as usual" after media reports saying the U.S. accessed servers at the telecom giant's Shenzhen headquarters, acting Chief Executive Eric Xu said on Monday.

Earlier this month, the New York Times and Der Spiegel cited documents leaked by former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden as saying the National Security Agency obtained sensitive data and monitored Huawei executives' communications.

"If the New York Times report is true, I think we will have known about this long ago," Mr Xu said at a press briefing in Shenzhen after the company reported its 2013 earnings results.

"Nobody has ever said that Huawei has the capacity to spy on the U.S. network and things like that," said Mr Xu. "For a business organisation, no one would be so unwise as to do such a thing.

"The whole focus point of all the ongoing discussion is the concern that the Chinese government may leverage Huawei's equipment (for spying)," Mr Xu said. "I think it will take a lot of effort to address (allegations that Huawei has the capacity to spy)."

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