[...] "Our recommendation is to not buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already purchased as fast as reasonably possible," said [Lithuania] Defence Deputy Minister Margiris Abukevicius.

[...] Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 10T 5G phone was found to have software that could detect and censor terms including “Free Tibet”, "Long live Taiwan independence" or "democracy movement", the report said.

It highlighted more than 449 terms that could be censored by the Xiaomi phone's system apps, including the default internet browser. In Europe, this capability had been switched off on these models, but the report argued it could be remotely activated at any time.

"Xiaomi's devices do not censor communications to or from its users," a spokeswoman told the BBC. "Xiaomi has never and will never restrict or block any personal behaviours of our smartphone users, such as searching, calling, web browsing or the use of third-party communication software." The firm is fully GDPR compliant, she added.

The research also found the Xiaomi device was transferring encrypted phone usage data to a server in Singapore. [...]

The report also highlighted a flaw in Huawei’s P40 5G phone, which put users at risk of cyber-security breaches. “The official Huawei application store AppGallery directs users to third-party e-stores where some of the applications have been assessed by anti-virus programs as malicious or infected with viruses,” a joint statement by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence and its National Cyber Security Centre said. [...]

A Huawei spokesman told the BBC it abides by the laws and regulations of the countries where it operates, and prioritises cyber-security and privacy. “Data is never processed outside the Huawei device,” he added. [...]

A further 5G model by OnePlus was also examined by the team, but was found to have no issues. [...]