Huawei hit back at ongoing criticism from Australia regarding the security of its equipment, as the vendor attempts to avoid being locked out of bidding for 5G contracts.

In its second such move this month, Huawei Australia stated government concerns it is effectively run by the Chinese state were untrue and again talked up its long-standing relationship with Australian operators.

Last week, operators called for talks to discuss their concerns the government was preparing to block Huawei from taking part in 5G rollouts. They are concerned shutting the vendor out would leave Nokia and Ericsson holding all the cards, and could increase deployment costs.

Huawei Australia made its latest defence in a letter sent to Australian politicians, signed by chairman John Lord along with directors John Brumby and Lance Hockridge, Reuters reported.

The letter also flagged the fact authorities in the UK, Canada and New Zealand had taken it up on an offer to evaluate the security credentials of its 5G kit.

In a related report, ZDNet said Huawei also highlighted it had met national security guidance in Germany, Spain and Italy, along with the UK, Canada and New Zealand. Huawei extended a similar offer for evaluation to Australian authorities, the news outlet stated.

Huawei Australia’s letter follows a robust defence of the vendor’s security credentials issued by Lord earlier this month. At the time he reiterated prior comments regarding the security of its equipment, highlighting the company is employee-owned rather than state controlled.