The US National Security Agency pried into the Shenzhen servers of Huawei to find out if the Chinese telecommunications firm was spying on behalf of China's military, according to a document leaked to US and German media on Saturday.

The leaked document, published on the New York Times website, contained classified information on the NSA's spying operations in China codenamed "Operation ShotGiant".

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It was part of the many NSA surveillance documents secured and eventually leaked to media by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The first goal of "Operation ShotGiant", according to the 2010 document, was to "exploit" Huawei hardware because "many of our (NSA's) targets communicate over Huawei-produced products."

"We want to make sure that we know how to exploit these products to gain access to networks of interest" around the world, the document revealed.

Huawei has long been blocked from doing business with US clients over fears that the Chinese technology firm might be used by Beijing to pry into US government and commercial affairs.

But the leaked document showed that the US itself was prying into China's affairs, and possibly even on countries that use Huawei equipment, which the NSA document referred to as 'targets', according to the New York Times.

The NSA, in a statement Saturday, clarified that its only purpose was to pursue legitimate intelligence operations that are crucial to the security of the United States and its allies, and not to "steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of US companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line."

However, the leaked document showed that "Operation ShotGiant" aimed at finding links between Huawei and the People's Liberation Army, China's military.

"Operation ShotGiant" also made sure to pry deep into Huawei's technology so that the NSA can conduct surveillance on other countries that buy Huawei products by roaming through their telephone and computer networks.

Huawei responded to the report on the leaked NSA document saying that if it was true at all, then "they already know the company is innocent and independent."