Huawei has accused the US government of invoking the era of the McCarthy ‘witch hunts’ of the 1950s in its efforts to block the Chinese vendor from trading in the country.

An 81-page paper titled 'The Case for Huawei in America', published on Huawei’s US website last night, accuses the government of blocking Huawei on the basis of unsubstantiated "allegations based on allegations" – and says the situation could have "adverse implications" for relations between the US and China.

The paper is written by Dan Steinbock, described as an authority on trade and investment and US-China relations.

Reuters reports that the paper has been published on the eve of a scheduled appearance by Huawei at the US House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee. The committee is completing a nearly year-long investigation of security threats allegedly posed by equipment sold to US operators by Chinese firms such as Huawei and ZTE.

As noted in the paper, “much of the evidence fuelling lawmakers' concerns remains classified." However, the Republican-led House Intelligence panel said in a notice about the hearing that the Chinese-made equipment could put US networks at risk from “foreign espionage.”

A White House spokeswoman told Reuters that President Obama's administration was looking broadly at the opportunities, risks and implications of reliance on global, commercial markets, not aiming at "any particular company."