Photo:Xinhua

Huawei said on Tuesday it is going to set up manufacturing units to produce locally made 5G in Europe, a move that further rebukes security concerns after the EU declined to impose a blanket ban on the Chinese tech-giant in defiance of US pressure.

The news was announced by Abraham Liu, Huawei's Chief Representative to the EU Institutions, in Brussels on Tuesday, as the firm celebrated the 20th year of its operations in Europe.

"We are looking forward to the next 20 years here. That's why we have decided we want to set up manufacturing bases in Europe - so that we can truly have 5G for Europe, made in Europe," said Liu.

"Huawei is more committed to Europe than ever before," Liu added.

"The bases are expected to be for assembly use, and scale will not be big," Xiang Ligang, a telecom industry expert who closely follows Huawei, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In fact, the company does not have to build such manufacturing bases in Europe at all, as it could domestically produce all the 5G-related products and later export to the region, which is even more efficient and cheaper, Xiang said.

However, the plan is anticipated to minimize concerns of many over the so-called security threat and paves the way for its development in the continent, Xiang added.

The comments come days after the European Commission endorsed guidelines that could allow EU member states to decide whether to allow "high risk" telecommunications firms, such as Huawei, in their networks.

Analysts said the decision, which goes against the US' unwarranted and heightened crackdown on the Chinese firm, is "quite hard" to make for EU, but also shows how advanced and irreplaceable Huawei's pieces of equipment are.

In a fresh move to blunt the dominance of Huawei, the White House is working with US technology companies to create advanced software for next-generation 5G telecommunications networks, that could serve as an alternative to Huawei, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"The US has to accept the fact that it has already lagged behind in this next-generation technology race, and all efforts against Huawei will go in vain ," Xiang said.

Now, as the EU granted Huawei entry in its 5G construction, the US faces a dilemma; either to fall behind in the 5G race or cooperate with Huawei to grab the opportunities and take advantage, Xiang added.

Global Times