Attendees visit the Huawei pavilion at VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair during its opening day in Paris, France, June 15, 2022. The 2022 VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair kicked off here on Wednesday, and will last until Saturday. More than 2,000 exhibitors participated in the event. VivaTech is the world's rendezvous for startups and leaders to celebrate innovation and the power of technology in transforming business and society. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

Chinese experts slammed a so-called CNN exclusive that claimed an investigation conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had determined the equipment made by Chinese company Huawei could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communications, saying it is an "ignorant assumption."

According to the report that was published on Saturday, the FBI found that some Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by the US Strategic Command, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons. 

CNN claimed that the investigation date back to at least the Obama administration, but have never been reported. CNN said it obtained the information from more than a dozen sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 

Chinese experts strongly slammed such allegations. The so-called finding of the FBI is untenable, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

First, Huawei provides only facilities to telecom operators in the US and the latter is the one who operates and maintains the facilities. If Huawei installs any intercepting program in the facilities, it would be impossible that local operators had not detected it, Song said. And Huawei would definitely not make such a move which would only damage its own interests in the US market, said analysts. 

Second, it is well known that the US military's communication system is highly confidential and has strong anti-interference capacity, not to mention other measures the military would take to ensure the security of their facilities. So it is impossible for Huawei to intercept US military signals as the power of the company's cell towers in the US is very limited, Song noted.    

Song was echoed by Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, who slammed the so-called FBI finding as an "ignorant assumption."

"If the assumption stands, it means all similar equipment would have the same capacity. So can we say that iPhones, Microsoft systems and Intel chips used in China are all sending data they collect in China back to the US government?" Xiang told the Global Times on Sunday.

Xiang explained that, in terms of technologies, there are three preconditions for Huawei to be able to intercept the US authorities' data and send them to other countries: First, the company should be able to intercept signals from a cell tower; second, the company should install some special equipment atop the tower; third, the company should be able to send the data it intercepted to overseas countries via the US operators' communication network. 

"The key is, if Huawei is able to complete these preconditions, it requires local operators to cooperate with Huawai. Would US operators like to do so? The answer is obviously no," Xiang said.