This "Reds under the Bed" scare always comes out when Telstra is threatened by Optus. Apparently Telstra's actual outsourcing of its IT operations to India is fine, but Optus even considering buying Chinese kit is bad.

Telstra's own network equipment is built in the former Soviet republics by a French company, so there's a throwing stones in the glasshouse aspect to all this.

All the Australian carriers use 3G modems built in China, so is there is an espionage threat then we're already in real trouble.