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Huawei revealed as top sponsor of Australian politicians' overseas travel

Some fear the telecom company is controlled by the Chinese government.

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Huawei is the main corporate sponsor of overseas travel for Australia's politicians, according to an analysis.

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Huawei is the biggest corporate sponsor of overseas travel for Australia's politicians, an analysis has reportedly revealed.

The research, reported by Reuters, comes after several politicians criticized the idea of the Chinese telecom giant playing a role in the country's 5G roll-out, over fears the company is controlled by China's government.

Huawei responded with an open letter that called the criticism "ill-informed and not based on facts," as it claimed to be "good and safe" for Australia.

In research based on politicians' disclosures, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) found that Huawei paid for 12 out of 55 corporate-sponsored trips by Australian politicians to the company's headquarters in Shenzhen between 2010 and 2018.

Those who took the trips include Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and former Trade Minister Andrew Robb.

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group was the second-largest corporate sponsor, paying for five trips, the research said.

US lawmakers echoed their Australian counterparts' concerns over Huawei last week, when they wrote a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai to say that the partnership between Google and Huawei on instant messaging poses a serious threat to US national security and consumers.