PNP chief orders probe into Huawei controversies

PNP chief Police General Oscar Albayalde has directed the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management to look into the allegations of other countries against Chinese company Huawei.

Albayalde made the remark after being told that the Chinese information and technology firm was the biggest sponsor of the PNP's Anti-Cybercrime Summit recently.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has warned the Philippine government against entering deals or contracts with Huawei amid allegations that the tech firm could be used by the Chinese government for spying.

The Philippines recently entered into a P20-billion contract with state-owned China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) for the “Safe Philippines” emergency response and monitoring system.

Huawei will provide the equipment, including CCTV cameras.

"The director of the DIDM is here. He will into those allegations," Albayalde said when told of the controversies confronting Huawei.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has urged caution over the role of China's Huawei in the UK, saying the government should think carefully before opening its doors to the technology giant to develop next-generation 5G mobile networks.

His comments come after Prime Minister Theresa May conditionally allowed China's Huawei to build the UK 5G network, according to media reports last week.

Concerns have been raised that the Philippines' emergency system could be exploited  by the Chinese government as Huawei would have access to sensitive information.

The US has repeatedly warned about Huawei’s next-generation 5G equipment as it was more vulnerable to attacks and could be used for Chinese intelligence-gathering.

China says never

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in March said that China would "never" ask its firms to spy on other nations.

Li made the remark amid US warnings that the Chinese telecommunications behemoth Huawei posed security risks.

The United States has launched a global campaign to convince Western allies to shut Huawei out of next-generation 5G technology over fears the company could be used by Beijing for espionage.

A law recently enacted by Beijing that obliges Chinese companies to aid the government on national security has added to the concerns.

But Premier Li Keqiang said the government would not ask any company to spy on its behalf.

In February, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei denied that there were "backdoors" in its technology to spy for Beijing.

"It is not possible. Because across our entire organization, we've stressed once and again that we will never do that," he said in an interview with CBS on Tuesday.  —with reports from Agence France-Presse/NB, GMA News