The United States has made a final attempt to persuade the British government to exclude the Chinese company Huawei from 5G networks. The Trump administration is threatening to cut off British access to American intelligence services.
Great Britain will decide later this month whether the Chinese Huawei, the world's largest supplier of telecom infrastructure, may provide equipment and technology for 5G networks. This was discussed during a recent visit by British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to his American counterpart Mike Pompeo.
An American delegation was supposed to travel to the United Kingdom this week but the trip was canceled, reportedly due to bad weather, but likely because of heightened tensions between the US and Iran. Instead, it was decided that British Minister Raab would travel to Washington, and the China-5G issue was only briefly touched upon as most attention focused on US-Iran relations.
No announcements were made about Huawei and London following the talks. This may indicate that Washington and London still have not reached an agreement. If there had been an agreement, it would undoubtedly have been announced by Washington.
The US aims to convince the British government that Huawei must not be used in 5G networks. The Americans argue that Huawei could use this to spy, that the company has close ties to the Chinese government, and therefore poses a security risk. Huawei strongly denies this, and the US has never presented concrete evidence.
Also at stake is that a British ban on Huawei could cost billions of dollars and thereby impact China’s economy, with which the Americans are engaged in a trade war.
Earlier this year, British parliamentarians concluded there is no technical reason why Huawei should be excluded from the British telecommunications infrastructure. However, it was suggested that there are ethical and political reasons for a possible ban. It appears that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reached a similar stance following talks between the British government and Huawei.
It is possible that Huawei would supply equipment for the ‘non-contentious’ parts of the 5G infrastructure. This would mean Huawei could provide additional equipment but not equipment for the core of the network, where data processing takes place. The Netherlands had earlier also suggested a similar ‘middle ground’ solution.
According to British sources, other suppliers cannot provide alternatives for some of Huawei’s technology, which means the UK could fall behind if the company were banned. Government officials also share the view that the UK possesses sufficient technological expertise to manage potential threats, and that the decision is primarily political.
However, the US has a strong leverage tool to ensure the British follow its lead. Last month, the US passed a law that limits sharing intelligence with allies (such as the British) if they deal with players like Huawei. This puts the British in a difficult position.