Exclusive: U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project - sources

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's plane makes its landing approach on Pohnpei International Airport in Kolonia, Federated States of Micronesia August 5, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company's cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region.

Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland's Nokia, and Japan's NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said.