Security experts say the U.S. government is likely exaggerating the threat it says the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei poses to the world's next-generation wireless networks.
Washington has mounted an intense diplomatic offensive that paints Huawei as an untrustworthy servant of Beijing's intelligence agencies.
Critics say the U.S. case is short on specifics and glosses over the fact that China doesn't need secret access to Huawei routers to infiltrate global networks that already have notoriously poor security.
State-sponsored hackers have shown no preference for one manufacturer's technology over another.
The U.S. National Security Council declined to make an official available to address specific questions about threats posed by Huawei.
And the top State Department cybersecurity official, Robert Strayer, avoided specifics when questioned by reporters on the issue Tuesday at a mobile trade show in Barcelona, Spain.
