Huawei resisting calls to divest 3Leaf

NEW YORK, USA: China's Huawei is resisting calls to divest recently acquired U.S server technology firm 3Leaf, opting instead to wait for a decision from the White House before taking action.

Huawei bought server technology firm 3Leaf for $2 million last May. The U.S. government has been concerned about Huawei for years because of uncertainty over its relationship with the Chinese government.

After completing its review of the Huawei/3Leaf deal, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) suggested that Huawei should voluntarily divest the assets, according to Huawei.

The company declined the suggestion and said it would wait out the next step in the process, which is a 15-day presidential review.

"We'd like to see a proper conclusion to this process," said Bill Plummer, Huawei's U.S. vice president for external affairs.

Plummer said his company would be happy to give the U.S. government more information about Huawei to help with the review.

"We would welcome a transparent national security agreement that would allow the U.S. government full visibility into all aspects of our operations, employees and facilities in the United States," Plummer said.

A representative for CFIUS was not immediately available for comment.

CFIUS is an inter-agency U.S. government panel that reviews deals with national security implications. Its members are drawn from the Defense, State, Homeland Security, Justice, Commerce and other departments.

Huawei was founded by a People's Liberation Army soldier, and opponents say it retains links with China's security services. Huawei has denied the links.

Huawei's alleged links to Chinese security services has torpedoed U.S. deals in the past.

The world's No. 3 seller of telecom network equipment gave up a bid for 3Com in 2008 due to security concerns. In 2010, a group of U.S. Republican lawmakers raised national security concerns about Huawei's bid to supply mobile telecommunications equipment to Sprint Nextel Corp.