On July 14th, 2020, the United Kingdom announced that it would place a ban on the use of 5G equipment from telecommunications company Huawei, effectively reversing an earlier decision in January that would allow the Chinese telecommunications giant to play a limited role in building Britain’s 5G network. London asserted that the move was made due to Washington’s sanctions against the company. British secretary of state for Media, Arts, and Culture Oliver Dowden claimed that U.S. sanctions against Huawei had “significantly changed” the landscape, as the U.K. will “no longer be confident that it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment.” The British government has mandated that all U.K. 5G networks purge their Huawei equipment by the end of 2027. The move was welcomed by China hawks in the British government and was also seen as a symbolic victory for the Trump administration in Washington. The U.S. had imposed sanctions on Huawei back in May of this year and sought to restrict the company’s access to global chip supplies. Beijing responded by threatening to put U.S. companies on an “unreliable entities list.” The U.K.’s move against Huawei will have significant ramifications for both Britain’s 5G network as well as overall Sino-British relations.
London cited potential supply chain difficulties in Downing Street’s official explanation for banning Huawei’s equipment. While that certainly may be a significant factor, there is also another concern: the potential risks that Huawei’s equipment could pose to the U.K.’s national security. In 2019, the U.S. asserted that it had found evidence that Huawei was using backdoor technology to circumvent sanctions and engage in banking fraud. In February of 2020, American officials claimed that the Chinese government was engaged in “a persistent, well-orchestrated, very top-down, well-resourced effort to steal American and European intellectual property and the data of its citizens.” Washington accused Beijing of fostering an “ecosystem of theft among Chinese students, researchers, and companies that is designed to boost Chinese industry.” U.S. federal prosecutors have also accused Huawei of helping the Iranian government spy on protesters, as well as helping the North Korean government. As expected, Huawei and the Chinese government firmly denied the accusations.
The bevy of security concerns associated with the company is amplified by its history of engaging in intellectual property theft. Washington’s concerns regarding Huawei go as far back as the early 2000s, when U.S. officials first noted the rapid rise of the company. The U.S. was particularly concerned with Huawei’s “obsession” in acquiring advanced technology, as well as aggressively bidding to supply foreign telecom projects. In 2003, U.S. telecommunications company Cisco sued Huawei for copying computer codes used in Cisco’s routers. Huawei then produced cheaper versions of the routers to compete with Cisco. Cisco eventually dropped the lawsuit after Huawei agreed to pull the products from the market. In addition to intellectual property theft, there has been speculation that Huawei is linked with the Chinese military. A recent CV analysis of Huawei employees’ employment history found that many mid-level technical personnel in the company had previously worked in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). In addition, Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei previously served as an officer in the PLA, raising additional concerns that the company may be working closely with the Chinese military to acquire sensitive technology and information. Although these findings could simply be correlations, they ultimately augment the existing concerns that western nations have with the Chinese telecom giant. In that regard, London’s decision to restrict Huawei from its 5G network development is perhaps a prudent move.
With Huawei essentially out of the picture, the U.K. has begun to explore alternative routes to build its 5G infrastructure. London has called upon its “Five Eyes” security partners including Australia, Canada, the U.S., and New Zealand to cooperate in finding and developing their next generation wireless capacity. The plan for Five Eyes is to strengthen Huawei’s competitors including Nokia and Ericsson. This will allow additional equipment vendors into the market in order to create a common process among the participating nations regarding when and where they will accept foreign investment in the technology sector. In the U.S., Washington has created a “Blue Dot Network” along with Australia and Japan to ascertain the transparency, sustainability, and developmental impact of global infrastructure networks. The network is seen as a competitor with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. London has also reached out to Tokyo to ask for Japan’s help in building its 5G infrastructure. On July 16th, British officials met with their Japanese counterparts to discuss alternatives, and the U.K. has named two Japanese companies – NEC Corporation and Fujitsu – as potential suppliers.
London’s decision to ban Huawei’s equipment was a difficult choice, as Downing Street had to weigh the costs and benefits between its alliance with the United States and billions of dollars in economic ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is estimated that trade between the two countries is valued at roughly $88 billion. In addition, Chinese students studying in the U.K. generate approximately $2.14 billion in revenue annually. The U.K. also acknowledged that mounting U.S. pressure was a factor in its decision to ban Huawei. The British government noted privately to the company that “geopolitical” reasons contributed to the ban and hinted that the decision could potentially be reversed in the future if political conditions in the United States shifted and Washington’s anti-China stance were to be eased. In this regard, London has demonstrated a pragmatic approach in attempting to balance its political alliance with Washington and its considerable economic ties with Beijing by leaving the door open for future cooperation with Huawei. It remains to be seen how the latest blow to Huawei will affect the telecom giant.
The U.K.’s Huawei decision is the latest episode in a series of recent events that has highlighted deteriorating relations between Beijing and London. The recent National Security Law enacted in Hong Kong has prompted the U.K. to offer British citizenship to Hong Kong residents, much to Beijing’s displeasure. London has also criticized the Chinese government for human rights abuses in Xinjiang province against the Uyghur ethnic group. The Chinese ambassador to the U.K. strongly insists that there are no human rights violations and denies the existence of any “concentration camps” in the region despite satellite imagery appearing to show groups of blindfolded Uyghurs being led onto trains. There have also been claims that Beijing is engaging in a mass sterilization campaign against Uyghur women to control the population in the region. Birthrates in predominantly Uyghur areas have plunged by approximately 60% from 2015 to 2018. The bevy of recent friction points between London and Beijing paint an increasingly stormy picture of Sino-British relations, with the Huawei decision further straining bilateral ties. London’s ban on Huawei can be considered yet another incident in the ongoing deterioration of broader U.S.-China ties as the Trump administration has pressured its allies to take a hard stance on Beijing. Given the considerable mutual investment between the U.K. and China, London will have to find a way to balance its long-term economic and political interests, as Britain maneuvers between two geopolitical titans.
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