China has hit back by accusing the UK of "deep-rooted pride and prejudice" over security fears raised about Huawei, the controversial telecoms giant.

Wu Qian, a military officer and spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, branded allegations that Huawei equipment represented a security threat to Britain as "groundless".

According to remarks reported in the Global Times, a state-backed newspaper, Mr Wu said they reflected Britain's "deep-rooted pride and prejudice" against Beijing.

They came after Gavin Williamson, Britain's defence secretary, warned that Huawei’s role in the forthcoming upgrade of Britain's mobile networks to 5G services needed to be examined “very closely” because of “grave concerns” about Chinese equipment potentially being used for espionage.

Alex Younger, MI6 chief, has also questioned how comfortable Britain should be with Chinese ownership of the country’s communications infrastructure, adding to the pressure on Huawei’s role in building state of the art 5G networks.

Huawei, the world’s largest manufacturer of telecoms equipment, is working closely with mobile operators in the UK such as Three and EE-owner BT to build 5G networks that aim to deliver faster and more reliable internet services. It claims its success is down to its hefty investment in research and high quality equipment.