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A sign advertises Huawei on a building on a city square in central Skopje,Macedonia. The US is anxious to counter Chinese influence in the region.Credit:Bloomberg

In recent days,Beijing has launched an offensive against the key argument from Washington that Huawei presents a national security threat because any Chinese company - private or state - is compelled to comply with spy agencies under the Chinese national intelligence law.

"Chinese law requires them to provide Beijing's vast security apparatus with access to any data that touches their networks or equipment,"US vice president Mike Pence said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

The law was also cited by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau minister Andrew Little in January when he said there were security concerns with Huawei and New Zealand was examining whether they could be mitigated.

"Any Chinese corporate or Chinese citizen can be compelled to co-operate and collaborate with Chinese intelligence... that's a known concern,"said Little.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang claims the US has double standards.Credit:AP

In a new messaging campaign,China's foreign ministry has argued the intelligence law shouldn't be seen in isolation from other Chinese legal provisions that safeguard data - similar to western countries.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Monday accused the US and its allies of double standards.

He said that while the intelligence law stipulates Chinese organisations and individuals have an obligation to assist national intelligence work"it also stipulates that national intelligence work should be conducted in accordance with law"and respect the rights and interests of individuals and organsations.

"There are other laws in China with provisions to protect the individual organisation's rights and interests including data security and privacy rights. These provisions all apply to national intelligence work,"he said.

China has argued that the Five Eyes intelligence allies,the US,Australia,New Zealand,Britain and Canada,have"similar provisions"on cooperating with intelligence agencies.

In recent days China's foreign ministry has singled out Australia,saying the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act ratified almost 40 years ago and the 2001 Intelligence Services Act"both stipulate that in accordance with the government's requirements,the intelligence services can use force to obtain data and information of people and organisations under investigation".

In fact,Australia's security agencies are supervised under a warrant system.

In an editorial on Monday evening,the nationalist Chinese tabloidGlobal Times wrote that if Britain decides to accept Huawei,it would give other European countries a reason to also continue using Huawei.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used a tour of central and eastern Europe last week to lobby governments to ban Huawei or risk losing cooperation from the United States.

But the UK National Cyber Security Centre has decided"there are ways to limit risks from using Huawei",according toThe Financial Times.

Britain's former surveillance chief Robert Hannigan said last week that"assertions that any Chinese technology in any part of a 5G network represents an unacceptable risk are nonsense".

Huawei has said it is working on a major $US2 billion project to comply with British demands to improve its source code.

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