Image copyright Getty Images Image caption There have been concerns over Huawei's ties with the Chinese government and military

Huawei has denied claims made by a former US Central ­Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief, Michael Hayden, that it has spied for the Chinese government.

Mr Hayden was quoted by the Australian Financial Review as saying that it was his "professional judgment" that the firm supplied intelligence to ­China.

However, Huawei said the claims were "unsubstantiated" and "defamatory".

Huawei, one of the world's biggest telecom equipment makers, has faced increased scrutiny in recent times.

Last year, US politicians claimed that the company posed a security threat because of its alleged links to China's government and military.

On Thursday, the UK government said that it would review Huawei's involvement in a cybersecurity centre.

'Sad distractions'

The concerns over its association with the Chinese authorities have been driven in part, by the fact that the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei, was a former member of the People's Liberation Army.

However, Huawei has repeatedly denied those claims and has stressed that it is 100%-owned by its employees and founder.

In an article published by the Australian Financial Review, Mr Hayden claimed that Western intelligence agencies had information about Huawei's "clandestine activities".

He was quoted as saying that Huawei at a minimum had "shared with the Chinese state intimate and extensive knowledge of the foreign telecommunications systems it is involved with".

However, Scott Sykes, head of international media affairs for Huawei, told the BBC that these remarks were "sad distractions from real-world concerns related to espionage - industrial and otherwise - that demand serious discussion globally".