Huawei denies spying on China and says U.S. wants to hinder growth (File)
London:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to ban Huawei from the British 5G network on Tuesday, angering China but delighting US President Donald Trump by signaling that the world‘s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment is no longer welcome in the West.
The United States pushed Johnson to reverse its January decision to give Huawei a limited role in 5G, while London was dismayed by a crackdown in Hong Kong and the perception that China has not said all the truth about coronavirus.
Now, as Britain prepares to withdraw from the European Union, Johnson risks the wrath of the second world economy by ordering a purge of Huawei equipment which, according to the United States, could be used to spy on the West.
The National Security Council (NSC), chaired by Johnson, will meet Tuesday morning to discuss Huawei. Media secretary Oliver Dowden will then announce a decision in the House of Commons at approximately 11:30 GMT.
The immediate excuse for the political shift is the impact of the new U.S. sanctions on chip technology, which London claims affects Huawei’s ability to remain a reliable supplier.
“Obviously, the context has changed slightly with some of the sanctions imposed by the United States,” Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News about Huawei.
In what some have compared to the antagonism of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the United States fears that the domination of 5G is a milestone towards Chinese technological supremacy that could define the geopolitics of the 21st century.
Faster data and increased 5G capacity will make it the foundation of industries and an engine of economic growth. As the most powerful intelligence power in the West after the United States, Britain is monitored by Huawei through allies.
Telecommunications companies have already had to limit Huawei’s role in 5G to 35% by 2023. Zeroing over two to four years is now under discussion, although operators say too fast could disrupt services and be expensive.
End of the “golden era”?
Hanging up Huawei, founded by a former engineer of the People’s Liberation Army in 1987, marks the end of what former Prime Minister David Cameron called a “golden age” in relations with Great Britain. Brittany as the first European destination for the Chinese capital.
Cameron toasted the relationship over a beer with President Xi Jinping in an English pub, which was later bought by a Chinese company.
Trump, however, has repeatedly asked London to ban Huawei from Washington calling a Chinese Communist state official – an argument that has the backing of Johnson’s Conservative Party.
Huawei denies spying on China and said the U.S. wants to hinder its growth because no U.S. company can offer the same range of technologies at a competitive price.
China says banning one of its flagship global technology companies would have far-reaching ramifications. His ambassador said that a U-turn on Huawei would damage Britain’s image and that he would have to bear consequences if he treated China as hostile.
In January, Johnson challenged Trump by allowing so-called high-risk companies to participate in 5G, capped at 35%. It has excluded them from the sensitive 5G “core” where data is processed, as well as from critical networks and locations such as nuclear and military sites.
Huawei and customers such as BT, Vodafone and Three are waiting to see the scale of the new ban and how quickly it can be implemented, with hundreds of millions of pounds straddling the bottom line.
The other major suppliers of telecommunications equipment are the Swedish Ericsson and the Finnish Nokia. British lawmakers have lamented that no Western company offers the same valuable equipment, although there have been calls to form a Western consortium to compete with China.
(Writing by Paul Sandle and Guy Faulconbridge; Edition by William Maclean and Peter Graff)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
