China syndromeU.K. Bans Huawei Components from 5G, Earlier Networks
The British government, in a reversal of a January decision, will not allow Huawei access to the U.K. nascent 5G network. The government has also imposed a “rip and replace” requirement, giving British companies until 2027 to remove all Huawei gear from their networks and replace it with components from “trusted vendors.”
In a reversal of its January decision, the U.K. government on Tuesday announced that all 5G network equipment produced by the Chinese tech giant Huawei will be banned from the country’s nascent 5G network.
“From the end of this year, telecoms providers must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei,” the U.K. digital minister, Oliver Dowden told Parliament.
The Times reports that he government’s new guidelines also include a “rip and replace” mandate for pre-5G communication networks, requiring that all existing Huawei equipment to be stripped from all the U.K. networks by the start of 2027.
Huawei, heavily subsidized by the Chinese government, is the world’s leading producer of 5G network technology. The intelligence services of the United States and other nations have evidence that Huawei turns over to the Chinese intelligence agencies information it collects in the countries where its technology has been installed.
In the United Kingdom, Huawei equipment designated for incorporation in the country’s 5G networks was found to have well-concealed backdoors which would have allowed Chinese intelligence to spy on British citizens, corporations, and government agencies.
Moreover, the company’s intimate ties to the Chinese intelligence and military establishments means that in a time of tension or conflict, Huawei, on orders from Beijing, may flip the switch and plunge the countries where its technology has been installed into a communication darkness.
The tensions between China and the United Kingdom was growing over several issues, including China’s duplicitous conduct during the early phases of the coronavirus epidemic, and, more recently, the imposition of Chinese national security law on the former British colony of Honk Kong.
The Times notes that In January, the British government decided to allow Huawei to install up to 35 percent of the U.K. 5G network – and limited Huawei involvement to the “edge” or the network.
In May, however, the United States imposed new sanctions on Huawei, blocking the company’s access to essential U.S.-produced chips and semi-conductors. Since the sanctions would have led Huawei to rely on its own chips and semi-conductors rather than on U.S. parts, U.K. signals-intelligence agency, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), informed the British government that it could no longer guarantee Huawei’s gear was secure (security experts questions GCHQ’s earlier claims that it could guarantee the security of Huawei gear as long as its main components wee U.S.-made).
The GCHQ said Huawei’s lack of access to trusted U.S. suppliers meant the company could have to use unverifiable – i.e., Chinese — alternatives.
The heavy subsidies Huawei receives from the Chinese government allows it to offer cheaper equipment than its main Western competitors, Nokia and Ericsson.
British telecom companies said that ripping and replacing Huawei equipment would take years to implement, cost billions, and result in widespread network blackouts
Other European countries, including Germany, are yet to decide whether or not to allow Huawei to be involved in their communication networks. As was the case with the U.K., the U.S. government has been exerting considerable pressure on these government to reject Huawei.
