Huawei vows to meet Canada’s security standards

TORONTO Huawei Technologies Canada Co. will do “whatever is required” to meet Canada’s security standards for 5G networks, the Chinese telecommunications giant pledged in a letter sent Wednesday to the Canadian Cyber Security Centre.

The promise comes at a tense time in Canada’s relationship with Huawei after its CFO was arrested on Canadian soil under an extradition pact with the U.S. Canadian officials are facing mounting pressure to ban Huawei equipment from next-generation wireless networks over fears it contains hidden backdoors the Chinese government could exploit for espionage.

But Huawei Canada president Eric Li said the company will make a series of commitments to “ensure the integrity and security of 5G networks in Canada” in line with new commitments it made to the United Kingdom, according to the letter to Francis Castonguay, the CCSC’S director general of partnerships and risk mitigation. A copy of the letter was sent to the Financial Post.

This week, Huawei said it would spend US$2 billion over the next five years in the U.K. to fix technical problems that the U.K’S spy agency believes could expose British telecom networks to security risks. Specific measures have not been made public, but Huawei said it shared an outline of its commitments to the U.K. government with Canadian officials.

Li wrote he “would like to ensure it is understood our commitments to the U.K. also apply to the Government of Canada.”

“We are proud to have been able to work with Canada for a decade, and hope that these additional efforts ensure we are doing whatever is required to meet the standards of the Government of Canada,” Li wrote.

The promise comes as Huawei faces intense scrutiny in Canada and worldwide. In early December, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of the U.S., which wants to extradite her to face fraud charges for allegedly violating its sanctions against Iran. Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army, has been released on bail. China has subsequently detained three Canadians.

Huawei has repeatedly denied any ties to the Chinese government.