Czech President Milos Zeman said the West’s allegations of espionage against Chinese telecoms company Huawei are not supported by evidence.
Zeman made the remarks during his trip to Beijing for last week’s Belt and Road Forum, when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Huawei executives.
Xi said China was willing to work with the Czech Republic to take their partnership to a “new level” and he hoped Prague would play a constructive role in promoting relations between China and the rest of Europe.
Huawei’s technology was not being used for espionage, the spokesman said after a meeting between Zeman and Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei on Saturday.
Xi said China appreciated that Zeman had spoken up for Beijing and called for fair treatment for the Chinese telecoms company whose chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada in December at the request of the US government.
Czech presidential office spokesman Jiri Ovcacek was quoted by local media as saying that Zeman maintained that “the campaign against Huawei was not based on evidence”.
Meng and Huawei face about two dozen charges brought by the United States, including financial fraud and violation of trade sanctions against Iran. They denied the charges.
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