Swedish trade minister Ewa Bjorling said there was a lack of support for the European Commission’s investigation into ZTE and Huawei receiving unfair state backing.
European vendors Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens are also unlikely to comply with the European Commission, reportedly fearing a trade exile in the growing Chinese market.
Bjorling told Reuters Sweden was not supporting the investigation and the stance was shared by other European states.
“Not all member states spoke out but of those that spoke a majority was for our position,” said Bjorling.
Tension between the European Commission and Chinese vendors has been rising with the European Commission last year investigating similar issues.
Huawei has denied that it receives unfair subsidies from the Chinese government and maintained its strong position results from low-cost manufacturing and innovation.
Chinese EU ambassador Wu Hailong said the EU has resorted to “trade remedy measures to restrict access of Chinese products to the EU market”.
“The negative practice is counterproductive to the sound, sustained and stable development of China-EU trade relations," said Hailong.
