China ‘threat’ needs scrutiny, says spy chief
BRITAIN must acknowledge the “threat” posed by Chinese companies such as Huawei before deciding whether to ban them from providing our next generation mobile network, the head of GCHQ will warn today.
Earlier this month, intelligence chiefs had concluded that the security risk around Huawei supplying critical infrastructure for the 5G network was “manageable”, despite the US, Australia and New Zealand all barring Huawei from building their telecoms infrastructure amid spying concerns.
However, in a speech in Singapore today, Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ, was expected to emphasise that a final decision about Huawei’s involvement had yet to be made and that the benefits of using a Chinese company must be taken into consideration.
He will say: “We have to understand the opportunities and threats from China’s technological offer, understand the global nature of supply chains and service provision irrespective of the
flag of the supplier. [We have to] take a clear view on the implications of China’s technological acquisition strategy in the West and help our governments decide which parts of this expansion can be embraced, which need risk management, and which will always need a sovereign, or allied, solution.”
His comments come after Alex Younger, the MI6 chief, expressed concern last year about the potential involvement of Huawei in the UK’S 5G mobile network. Mr Fleming will discuss how the banning of Chinese tech companies will not necessarily protect Britain from foreign interference.
Huawei has strongly denied that it poses any risk. Mr Fleming will also argue that there should be an international ethical and legal standard governing national security and that intelligence agencies must work with tech industry leaders and academics.
“There’s a lot at stake here,” he says. “Without a commonly agreed set of principles, it’s much harder to reach agreement on common standards, to exchange and trust data, to prosecute poor behaviours and to create a commonly agreed doctrine of deterrence.” ♦ Robert Hannigan, who quit as GCHQ director in 2017 for “personal reasons”, gave a character reference for Father Edmund Higgins, a Catholic priest who later received a suspended eightmonth jail sentence in 2013 for child pornography charges, it has emerged.