U.S. in Last-Ditch Effort to Sway U.K.’s Huawei Decision

He said the U.S.-U.K. partnership was “very close and trusted,” adding: “It is, of course, of great importance to us. And, I dare say, to the U.S. too, though that’s for them to say. It is a two-way street.”

When asked specifically whether he thought that the U.K. would lose out on intelligence relationships if the government decided to go ahead with Huawei, he said he did not think this was a danger. “I’ve no reason today to think that,” he said.

Sir Andrew said that security concerns alone should not always “dominate and dictate” a decision, and that Johnson and his national security council had been left with a difficult decision because there were so few suppliers in the market.

All four mobile networks in Britain have now launched 5G with Vodafone, BT, EE, and Three all using the Chinese company’s equipment – but using it in what is called “non-core level”: The Chinese equipment is used in the antennas and base stations used on masts and rooftops, but not in the “core” network operations where customer details are held and calls are routed.

Limiting Huawei equipment to the non-core level limits the ability of China to spy on individuals and organizations using the equipment, and also limits the ability of the Chinese government to disrupt critical infrastructure.

“Perhaps the thing that needs more focus and more discussion is how do we get to a future where there’s a wider range of competition and a wider range of sovereign choices than defaulting to a yes or no about Chinese technology,” Sir Andrew told the FT.

One reason governments and telecom companies are attracted to Huawei technology is that subsidies by the Chinese government make the company’s equipment more than competitive relative to the equipment offered by Western companies.

The FT notes that U.S. pressure notwithstanding, the telecoms industry expects Johnson to make a similar decision to that taken by Theresa May’s national security council in April 2019, when ministers agreed to allow Huawei to build some “non-core” parts of the network.

The May government later put the decision on hold for a review requested by the Trump administration. It is the conclusions of that review which will inform Johnson’s decision.

Government insiders told the FT that no decision has been taken and that the ministers making the decision in the next two weeks, including Johnson, were “a new cast” who were looking at the evidence afresh. Only Sajid Javid – now the chancellor, but who was home secretary in May’s cabinet, participated in the May’s NSC April 2019 deliberations.