Monday, September 05, 2005
LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document
Financial Times (London, England)
August 29, 2005 Monday
USA Edition 1
SECTION: ASIA-PACIFIC; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 424 words
HEADLINE: Indian security concerns threaten Huawei
BYLINE: By KHOZEM MERCHANT
DATELINE: MUMBAI
BODY:
Indian security concerns threaten to derail plans by Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications company, to increase its investment in its Indian affiliate in Bangalore, according to confidential documents obtained by the Financial Times.
A meeting of powerful Indian civil servants was informed last month that "Huawei's operations in India had come to the adverse notice of India's security agencies, who have expressed reservations regarding (its) links with the Chinese military, their clandestine operations in Iraq, and close ties with the Pakistani army".
The suspicions of India's intelligence services have emerged two months after Chinese premier Wen Jiabao visited Bangalore, India's IT capital, and spoke of "greater co-operation, not competition" between China's hardware and India's software capabilities.
The meeting of Indian policy-makers was considering a proposal by Huawei to invest Rs2.64bn (Euros 50m) Dollars 60m) in its Indian unit, which develops software from a large site in Bangalore.
According to the documents, Huawei was keen to expand its presence into areas where 100 per cent foreign direct investment is now permitted, such as turnkey projects in infrastructure, technology and telecoms.
But a senior representative from India's intelligence bureau recommended the proposal should be rejected because "we do not possess the capability or the technical expertise for building an adequate safeguard to address the security concerns in the sensitive area of telecommunications".
The ministry of external affairs, however, had no specific objection from the "political angle" against Huawei's investment in India, the meeting heard.
B K Chaturvedi, the cabinet secretary who chaired the meeting, highlighted the possible negative impact of imposing restrictions on Chinese companies.
"Restricting the Chinese investment in this sector in our country on the grounds of security would not be a proper step, as it would adversely affect the fate of Indian companies based in China," the document records.
Anxieties run deep within the Indian policy-making establishment despite evidence of warmer relations between China and India over technology, say people in the Dollars 17.2bn IT-services industry.
One result of Mr Wen's tour of India's IT and scientific research establishment was last month's announcement of a contract between several Chinese state agencies, Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT company, and Microsoft , the world's biggest software company, to develop China's offshore technology services industry.
LOAD-DATE: August 28, 2005
August 29, 2005 Monday
USA Edition 1
SECTION: ASIA-PACIFIC; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 424 words
HEADLINE: Indian security concerns threaten Huawei
BYLINE: By KHOZEM MERCHANT
DATELINE: MUMBAI
BODY:
Indian security concerns threaten to derail plans by Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications company, to increase its investment in its Indian affiliate in Bangalore, according to confidential documents obtained by the Financial Times.
A meeting of powerful Indian civil servants was informed last month that "Huawei's operations in India had come to the adverse notice of India's security agencies, who have expressed reservations regarding (its) links with the Chinese military, their clandestine operations in Iraq, and close ties with the Pakistani army".
The suspicions of India's intelligence services have emerged two months after Chinese premier Wen Jiabao visited Bangalore, India's IT capital, and spoke of "greater co-operation, not competition" between China's hardware and India's software capabilities.
The meeting of Indian policy-makers was considering a proposal by Huawei to invest Rs2.64bn (Euros 50m) Dollars 60m) in its Indian unit, which develops software from a large site in Bangalore.
According to the documents, Huawei was keen to expand its presence into areas where 100 per cent foreign direct investment is now permitted, such as turnkey projects in infrastructure, technology and telecoms.
But a senior representative from India's intelligence bureau recommended the proposal should be rejected because "we do not possess the capability or the technical expertise for building an adequate safeguard to address the security concerns in the sensitive area of telecommunications".
The ministry of external affairs, however, had no specific objection from the "political angle" against Huawei's investment in India, the meeting heard.
B K Chaturvedi, the cabinet secretary who chaired the meeting, highlighted the possible negative impact of imposing restrictions on Chinese companies.
"Restricting the Chinese investment in this sector in our country on the grounds of security would not be a proper step, as it would adversely affect the fate of Indian companies based in China," the document records.
Anxieties run deep within the Indian policy-making establishment despite evidence of warmer relations between China and India over technology, say people in the Dollars 17.2bn IT-services industry.
One result of Mr Wen's tour of India's IT and scientific research establishment was last month's announcement of a contract between several Chinese state agencies, Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT company, and Microsoft , the world's biggest software company, to develop China's offshore technology services industry.
LOAD-DATE: August 28, 2005
# posted by Eastlaw @ 11:46 PM 
