LONDON—Britain’s defense secretary has said he has “grave” and “very deep concerns” about Chinese technology company Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s new 5G mobile network.
He told The Times of London that Beijing sometimes acted “in a malign way” and commented that a widespread review of security related to Huawei would be needed.
Huawei is a major supplier of broadband gear and mobile networks in the UK, meaning its products are used in critical national infrastructure. The company has supplied broadband equipment to BT, the UK’s largest telecom provider, and mobile networks for Vodafone.
Williamson’s statements come as the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan banned Huawei from involvement in their new 5G upgrades.
Companies in France and Germany have also raised concerns about Huawei, with France’s Orange saying it wouldn’t hire the company to build out its 5G network, and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom announcing that it was “reassessing [its] procurement strategy” following the recent scrutiny of Huawei.
“I have grave, very deep concerns about Huawei providing the 5G network in Britain. It’s something we’d have to look at very closely,” Williamson told The Times of London.
“We’ve got to look at what partners such as Australia and the United States are doing in order to ensure that they have the maximum security of that 5G network and we’ve got to recognize the fact, as has been recently exposed, that the Chinese state does sometimes act in a malign way,” Williamson said.
Huawei has repeatedly maintained it is a private company not under the control of the Chinese regime and isn’t subject to Chinese security laws overseas.
However, it is well-documented that Chinese companies are linked to the communist regime. Many firms are required by law to establish Communist Party branches that can take part in decision-making to ensure that the company’s activities are in line with the Party’s policies.
Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, has expressed how important 5G is to the company.
“The war of 5G is related to Huawei’s future fate,” Chinese media reported Ren as saying during a November company meeting. “We must win the competition for 5G networks, and we will not hesitate to pay the full price in order to achieve victory.”
The company attempted to mitigate concerns around its security by offering $2 billion to make changes in its hardware and software required by Britain’s security agencies.
However, earlier this month, European Union technology commissioner Andrus Ansip raised concerns about the Chinese communist regime’s rule that technology companies cooperate with its intelligence services.
“This is about mandatory backdoors,” Ansip told Euractiv. “It is not a good sign when companies have to open their systems to kind of secret services.”
Ansip added that “ordinary people” have reason “to be afraid” of Chinese companies like Huawei.
Alex Younger, the head of Britain’s spy service, MI6, said in a rare public speech on Dec. 3 that the UK would need to decide how comfortable it was having Huawei involved in critical communications equipment.
“We need to decide the extent to which we are going to be comfortable with Chinese ownership of these technologies and these platforms in an environment where some of our allies have taken a quite definite position,” Younger said.
BT has since said it will not be using Huawei’s hardware in its 5G network, and has also begun removing the Chinese company’s equipment from the “core” of its 3G and 4G mobile networks.
It will also remove any Huawei kit found in a new communication system being developed for the UK’s emergency services, though BT did not say why.
Last month, relations between Huawei and UK authorities reportedly soured when a top British official walked out of a meeting over the company’s apparent failure to fix security holes in its products, according to a source quoted by Reuters.
From The Epoch Times
