Huawei tells ex-CIA director, UK government to 'put up or shut up' about spying claims

Though Huawei seems to spend just about as much time denying spying claims as it does building handsets and telecom equipment, it's just taken that rhetoric up a notch. The company's vice president, William Plummer, just demanded the US and UK "shut up" about such allegations unless they can prove them. That's in response to a recent statement from former CIA head Michael Hayden, who accused the company of sharing "extensive knowledge of the foreign telecommunications systems" it worked on with the Chinese government. UK watchdogs also piled on, saying they would conduct a review of Huawei's new Cyber Security Evaluation Center over a lack of information about its links to the Chinese government. The beleaguered outfit responded that "these tired, unsubstantiated, defamatory remarks are sad distractions from real-world concerns related to espionage, industrial and otherwise." Those remarks show that Huawei's hit a whole new level of frustration, but given recent White House accusations against China, it's not likely to get any better.