Deals and ordeals for Chinese tech giant Huawei

HONG KONG (AFP) - Chinese telecom giant Huawei is perplexed at its treatment in the West, with the United States (US) fearful it is a Trojan horse for cyber warfare even as Europe eagerly courts its business.

The contrast was stark last week when the private company's elusive founder and chief executive officer, Mr Ren Zhengfei, appeared alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron at the signing of a US$2 billion (S$2.44 billion) investment deal in London.

The following day in Washington, US lawmakers grilled a Huawei executive over their suspicions that the Shenzhen-based company's communications infrastructure is a platform for Chinese espionage and, potentially, sabotage.

The House Intelligence Committee hauled the executive in for questioning at the start of a Sept 13 hearing into "security threats" posed by Huawei and another Chinese firm, ZTE, as part of a probe launched last year.