China's Lenovo seeks to acquire Blackberry-maker RIM
and communications technology in Canada, a sector that is so important to the Canadian economy. We hope they continue to do so well into the future," Paradis said in an emailed response to the Lenovo comments on Thursday.
Lenovo's acquisition trail over the past few years, such as the purchase of Germany's Medion in 2011 and IBM's PC business in 2005, has sparked market talk that it could be interested in handset makers such as RIM and Nokia Oyj.
Lenovo executives have denied on separate occasions last year that there were such plans.
Cybersecurity experts said Lenovo would likely go up against tough U.S. government scrutiny as well since the Defense Department and other agencies rely on the Blackberry, which is considered more secure than other smartphones.
Should Lenovo acquire RIM, it could lose a major client - the U.S. government - as U.S. officials would be reluctant to use products owned by a Chinese company due to national security concerns, analysts say.
"A potential acquisition of RIM by Lenovo would raise a number of important security issues," said Michael Wessel, a Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, appointed by Congress.
"Government employees are one of the largest users of RIM's BlackBerry products and the security of their communications has to be of paramount concern," said Wessel, adding that he was speaking on behalf of himself and not the Commission.
After the comments from Lenovo, a RIM spokesman said the company had nothing new to report on its strategic review.
RIM shares closed 2.2
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