US government officials have laid out their case for banning Huawei from 5G network builds in Europe after calling the Chinese company “duplicitous and deceitful”.

Robert Strayer, ambassador for cyber and international communications in the State Department, did not point to any specific evidence of Huawei installing backdoors or its equipment being co-opted by the Chinese state. However the official, who spoke alongside Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai, and Lisa Porter, an under secretary in the department of defence, made the case for excluding the Chinese supplier.

“Threats to US networks have a direct bearing on the security of our allies just as threats to our allies networks have a direct bearing on the security of our networks. To this end we ask other governments and the private sector to consider the threat of Huawei and other Chinese information technology companies,” said Mr Strayer.