China denies 'ridiculous' spying allegations against Huawei by Lithuania

China has dismissed allegations made by US ally Lithuania against its telecommunication giant Huawei Technologies, describing them as “absurd and ridiculous.”

Head of Lithuania's State Security Department Darius Jauniskis has said Huawei posed a potential "threat" against his agency.

The allegation drew an immediate response from the Chinese embassy in Vilnius, saying it was "shocked and surprised" by the "totally unacceptable" allegations.


"China does not pose any security threat to Lithuania,” the embassy said a statement.

"It is absurd and ridiculous for the Lithuanian intelligence and security services to rely on conjecture and imagination to make unfounded distortions."

The fresh allegation came in the wake of an increased pressure by the United States on European governments to scrap Huawei technology from their telecom infrastructure plans.

On Friday, US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, warned that any Western counties allowing Huawei tech or other Chinese equipment will face the risk of Washington's countermeasures.

The US accuses China of using the firm for international espionage. It has said China was making attempts to “recruit Lithuanian citizens” for the spy campaign, a charge Beijing strongly denies.

Last month, the US Justice Department filed criminal charges against Huawei, accusing the firm of stealing trade secrets and breaking US sanctions against Iran.

The US Justice Department also revealed formal charges against Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada in December on the request of the United States.

The move angered Beijing and triggered fresh tensions between the two sides.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, is now free on bail in Vancouver and is awaiting extradition.

If extradited to the United States, Meng would face charges of conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions, with a maximum sentence of 30 years for each charge.

EU facing dilemma over Huawei

On Friday, US Ambassador to the EU Sondland urged European countries to pick Finnish and other Scandinavian companies for their ultra-fast fifth-generation (5G) networks.

He made the warning after German business daily Handelsblatt reported that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel had ruled out an outright ban on Huawei.

German ministers said singling out the tech giant from a list of suppliers was not legally viable.

In France, however, telecoms operator Orange said in December that it would not hire the Chinese firm to build its next-generation network.

Poland in January arrested an employee of the Huawei along with a former Polish security official on charges of spying.

Other nations in the European continent, such as the United Kingdom,Spain, Portugal and Hungary, have by far been very receptive of Huawei’s technology,