Australian parliamentarians’ decision to get rid of ZTE handsets is wrong, China believes

Almaty. December 22. Silkroadnews - The decision of Australian parliamentarians to get rid of ZTE handsets is wrong, China believes, the Global Times newspaper reports.
“Major Chinese telecommunication provider ZTE Corp said Wednesday it has always paid attention to protecting users’ privacy in response to news that Australian parliamentarians will discontinue using one of the company’s phone models in fear they “might be spying on its owners””, the report said.
“ZTE Corp has always placed a high priority on protecting users' privacy and it will make efforts to protect the safety of users' personal information and privacy,” the agency quoted ZTE’s statement.
In September, The Daily Telegraph sent an inquiry to the Australian department of parliamentary services, asking whether the ZTE Telstra Tough T55 handsets represent a threat to national security. Although the department has officially stated that it could not find any evidence on device insecurity, the Australian parliamentarians would still find a different voice-only phone to replace the T55 “to remove any doubts” about security.
According to Yu Lei, a research fellow at the Oceania Research Center of Sun Yat-sen University, “the incident displays the hostile attitude adopted by some Australian politicians toward China. Like some Western countries, Australia remains guarded in its security as China pushes ahead in telecommunication and high-tech industries.”
He also added, this is not the first time when Australia creates problems for overseas Chinese enterprises under the pretext of ensuring national security. As an example, Yu mentioned August decision by Australia not to use the technology of Chinese company Huawei in providing high-speed Internet for the Solomon Islands, a small Pacific island nation with which Australia shares Internet resources.
“Chinese enterprises have moved from the bottom to a leading position in the overseas market, which makes Australia and other Western countries nervous regarding telecommunication-related spying and intelligence. Although the incident may slightly impact ZTE’s performance in Australia, Chinese enterprises have the advantage in price and technology, which still makes their products popular among the general public. Australia should also not close its doors on Chinese technologies, otherwise it will be left behind,” Yu said.
In the past fiscal year, 90 Telstra Tough T55 devices were sold to Australian parliamentarians and their staff.