An investigation by EurasiaNet.org focusing on ZTE and Huawei's penetration of the Central Asian telecoms sector shows that the companies, with Chinese government backing, have secured contracts in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

If the US congressional committee's premise for its probe - that Huawei and ZTE provide systems that enable a Chinese-government-backed data theft operation - is correct, then every Central Asian state except Kazakhstan would appear to be in a vulnerable spot. It is also possible that authoritarian-minded governments in the region are using Chinese technology to snoop on their own people. Central Asian states, especially Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are routinely listed in watchdog rankings as among the most repressive states in the world.

Huawei and ZTE have been active in Central Asia for more than a decade. In 2001, Kyrgyzstan received $10-million worth of free ZTE equipment in the form of inter-governmental aid and used it to install a telephone station for 10,000 subscribers in Bishkek. In addition, a number of leading Kyrgyz mobile phone and internet providers -- including Sapatcom, Asia-Info, Megacom and Saima Telecom -- use equipment purchased from ZTE or Huawei. And in 2009, Kyrgyztelecom and Huawei signed a contract to increase the bandwith of existing fiber optic lines in Kyrgyzstan.

In Tajikistan, ZTE modernized telephone exchanges across the country, and in 2005 it built a commercial Next Generation Network, a single network for telephone and internet provision, the first of its kind in Central Asia. In December 2006, the China Development Bank (CDB) gave a $70.6-million loan to the Tajik-Chinese mobile operator TK-mobile for new equipment purchased from ZTE. In addition, President Imomoli Rahmon's state visits to China have often included meetings with ZTE or Huawei executives.

ZTE opened an office in Uzbekistan in 2003. It now provides USB-modems and routers to mobile operators, including Ucell, Beeline, MTS and UzMobile. In August 2011, ZTE, in cooperation with Uzbektelecom, opened an electronics manufacturing plant in Navoi. Huawei was hired by Uzbektelecom in 2003 to upgrade telephone networks in the Fergana Valley city of Namangan, and later Tashkent. In 2005, thanks an $8-million loan from China's Ex-Im Bank, Huawei received a contract to upgrade the Uzbektelecom's fixed-line network in six regions. The project was worth $12.5 million and partly financed by Uzbektelecom. In 2006, an additional agreement was signed between Uzbekistan's Aloqabank and CDB, enabling Uzbektelecom to lease equipment worth $18.3 million from Huawei.

Since 2003 Huawei has also obtained a series of strategic contracts in Turkmenistan including one to construct fiber-optic communications lines, and another to modernize telephone networks in Ashgabat and other regional centers. In 2005, the Chinese government provided training grants for Turkmen specialists using Chinese equipment; Huawei's introduction of CDMA technology in Ashgabat in 2005 was funded by grants and interest free loans from the Chinese government.