WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers asked Alphabet Inc's (O:GOOGL) Google on Wednesday to reconsider its work with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], which they described as a security threat.
In a letter to Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers said Google recently decided not to renew "Project Maven," an artificial intelligence research partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense.
"While we regret that Google did not want to continue a long and fruitful tradition of collaboration between the military and technology companies, we are even more disappointed that Google apparently is more willing to support the Chinese Communist Party than the U.S. military," they wrote.
The letter was signed by Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, Republican Representatives Michael Conaway and Liz Cheney, and Democratic Representative Dutch Ruppersberger.
Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter was the latest in a series of efforts by members of the U.S. Congress to target Huawei, and ZTE (HK:0763) Corp (SZ:000063), another major Chinese telecommunications equipment company.
They have written bills that would bar government agencies from using the companies' products and try to overturn President Donald Trump's agreement to end a ban on ZTE.
Earlier this month another senator, Democrat Mark Warner, wrote to Alphabet and other technology companies asking about any data-sharing agreements with Chinese vendors.