BRUSSELS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU), Zhang Ming, denounced on Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's disinformation campaign against China and Chinese tech giant Huawei, calling it a "witch hunt".
"Despite the witch hunt and media hype, not a single country or individual has come up with solid evidence to prove that Huawei poses a security threat," Zhang wrote in a letter to the editor of POLITICO, which ran an op-ed by Pompeo on Monday.
In the signed article "Europe must put security first with 5G", Pompeo piled on to his disinformation campaign against China and Chinese companies, trying to win the hearts and minds of Europeans with a long list of false claims, saying Huawei has "allegedly stolen intellectual property" from countries including Germany, Israel and the United Kingdom.
Pompeo also claimed that China's National Intelligence Law made clear that the Communist Party of China (CPC) can force any 5G supplier headquartered in China to turn over data in secret.
Dismissing such claims as "a far cry from the truth," Zhang wrote: "It is the latest example of the top U.S. diplomat upping the ante to sling mud on China."
"As German daily Der Tagesspiegel reported in May, the UK government, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security and the European Commission all failed to find any backdoor in Huawei. While Pompeo attacks the Chinese Communist Party and proudly claims the moral high ground, he forgets about the NSA's (U.S. National Security Agency) notorious PRISM surveillance program and the wiretapping of America's closest allies," the ambassador wrote.
"Pompeo's efforts undermine the concept of national security. He is taking advantage of growing public consciousness of technology security to promote his own political agenda. If Pompeo's logic stands, even a bottle of wine produced in a country with a different political system could be poisonous. In that case, we cannot help but ask: Is it security first or America first?" noted the Chinese diplomat.
Zhang further called on Europe to keep a clear mind on the issue of 5G and be cautious about the American propaganda.
"Europe takes pride in multilateralism and upholds open markets. It is my hope and belief that Europeans will stand by the principles of fairness, justice and non-discrimination. The 5G era will be about connectivity and openness. Let's opt for cooperation rather than confrontation," he concluded.
Huawei, in a statement responding to Pompeo's Monday article, "categorically rejects the defamatory and false allegations spread by the government of the United States."
"These are malicious and well-worn accusations. All they do is to undermine the reputation of the United States. Furthermore, they are an insult to Europe's sovereignty and to the technical expertise of telecom operators," said the statement.
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