A month ago, as a U.S. congressional committee prepared to warn American telecommunications networks against buying from two Chinese suppliers, the founder of one of those companies was finding a warmer reception in London. There, he posed for photos with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain in front of the fireplace at 10 Downing Street in London.  

Declaring that Britain was “open for business,” Mr. Cameron announced that his guest, Ren Zhengfei, the chief executive of Huawei, had agreed to expand the company’s already sizable operations in Britain with an investment of £1.2 billion, or $2 billion.  

Given the typically close cooperation between the United States and Britain on security issues, the trans-Atlantic divide over Huawei and another Chinese equipment provider, ZTE, is striking. On Monday, the Intelligence Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives branded the companies security threats and raised the possibility that their gear could be used to spy on American interests if used in U.S. telecommunications networks.  

Huawei has rejected the allegations as “little more than an exercise in China bashing and misguided protectionism.”  

By contrast, said Roland Sladek, a spokesman for Huawei, “Europe is almost like a second home market for us.”

...