Huawei deal like giving Beijing a ‘loaded gun’
US warns against letting Chinese firm help build 5G network as May faces backlash
Steven Swinford, Ben Riley-smith
James Cook
THERESA MAY’S decision to allow Huawei to supply technology for Britain’s new 5G network is like handing China a “loaded gun”, the US National Security Agency warned last night.
The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday that the National Security Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, is to allow the Chinese telecoms firm limited access to help build “non-core” parts of the 5G network such as antennas.
It came despite objections from Cabinet ministers including Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt, Gavin Williamson and Penny Mordaunt and amid stark warnings from the US.
The US has banned Huawei from government networks and pressured other partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – to do the same. Rob Joyce, a senior adviser at the National Security Agency, said yesterday that the US would never let a Chinese firm supply 5G equipment. “We are not going to give them the loaded gun,” he said.
He told the Financial Times: “What we will be insistent on is UK decisions can’t put our information at risk but the good news is the UK already understands that.” Mr Joyce highlighted the fact that GCHQ, which oversees Huawei’s activities in the UK, had recently raised concerns about the “very, very shoddy” standard of security engineering activity at the company. “There have been some really horrific reports about the quality of that activity and what’s being produced,” he said.
Earlier, he said the outright ban on Huawei’s involvement in the US would not be lifted.
There was a backlash from Tory MPS and ministers who warned Mrs May risked damaging the special relationship by letting Huawei help build the UK’S 5G network and warned that Donald Trump could raise the issue during his state visit to the UK in June.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory MP, said: “It puts the special relationship under strain. I consider her [the PM’S] judgment on this to be very poor. I would call for a reconsideration of the decision given the nature of the risks it implies.”
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, warns today that allowing Huawei to remain in the 5G network would undermine trust between Five Eyes allies. Writing in The Telegraph, he states: “The decision to involve a firm that has already been vetoed by two of the other four members in networks which would inevitably be used to transmit secret data risks alienating our closest allies at the moment we need them most. It is hard to think of anything that would delight our competitors and rivals more.”
But Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, suggested Huawei could help build Britain’s 5G network as it was cheaper – but as long as security concerns were met. David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s de facto deputy, sought yesterday to defend the Chinese company after Dr Julian Lewis, chairman of the Commons defence select committee, warned Huawei was “intimately linked with the Chinese government”. Mr Lidington insisted Huawei was “legally speaking, a private company” and not linked to the ruling Communist Party.
Ciaran Martin, chief executive of the UK’S National Cyber Security Centre,
part of GCHQ, yesterday told a cyber security conference in Glasgow: “There’s a lot more to 5G security than just whether particular companies get particular contracts.”
Ian Levy, technical director at the National Cyber Security Centre, said earlier this month that Huawei could be barred from installing its technology in “sensitive” areas, such as Westminster. He told the BBC: “The security engineering at Huawei is unlike anything else. It’s very, very shoddy. It leads to cyber security issues.”
Mike Conaway, the Republican congressman from Texas behind legislation banning US government figures from using Huawei phones for official business, told The Telegraph: “It’s critical that we are wary of who we are giving access to the mobile activity that will inevitably take place on 5G networks. Even non-core infrastructure could be used to infiltrate cellular networks, increasing the risk of Huawei gaining access to privileged communications between Five Eyes or Nato nations.”
Huawei has denied any ties to the Chinese government but critics pointed out that Ren Zhengfei, its founder, was in its army and joined the Communist Party in 1978.
♦ Donald Trump reignited a row over unfounded claims that Britain spied on his 2016 election campaign just a day after his UK state visit was announced, tweeting that a former CIA analyst accused UK agencies of “helping Obama administration spy on the 2016 Trump presidential campaign”. He added: “Wow! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!”