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“Hidden ‘back doors’ to our networks in routers, switches — and virtually any other type of telecommunications equipment — can provide an avenue for hostile governments to inject viruses, launch denial-of-service attacks, steal data and more,” Pai said in a statement last week. He didn’t single out Huawei, but cited it and other Chinese tech companies in a previous letter to lawmakers.

Huawei insists it’s not tied to the Chinese government, and there is no public evidence that the company has been involved in espionage.

But some aren’t convinced, given past ties between Huawei’s leadership and the Chinese Communist Party and military.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale assured Parliament that Huawei is safe, but the debate has raised questions over what exactly Huawei does in Canada and whether those activities could pose a risk.

Huawei wouldn’t put a dollar value on its business in Canada, which includes testing next-generation 5G wireless networks and supplying the equipment needed to operate them, as well as selling smartphones.

The company entered the Canadian market in 2008 and has about 725 employees, roughly 425 of which work in research and development, spokesman Scott Bradley said in an interview.

It works with 10 universities and all the major wireless network operators, including partnerships with Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. to develop 5G networks. When it comes to network infrastructure, Bradley said Huawei equipment is used mostly for the radio access on the edges of the network. Essentially, this means it does not have access to the core network, which is the technological backbone that allows communications to travel.