Hounding of Huawei a lowdown dirty trick

In a slap in the face for the United States, which is seeking a blanket ban by European countries on equipment provided by the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, the British intelligence service has determined that using Huawei equipment does not pose a security threat.

Any possible risks arising from using Huawei technologies in 5G networks can be mitigated, according to a Financial Times report citing two sources familiar with the conclusion of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre.

In addition, the NCSC has never found evidence of malicious Chinese state cyber activity through Huawei despite repeated US accusations to that effect.

It is encouraging to hear some reason amid the jibber-jabber of US fearmongering. At the Munich Security Conference, US Vice-President Mike Pence on Saturday once again spuriously urged US allies to take seriously “the threat” posed by Huawei and other Chinese telecoms companies and exclude them from their markets.

But even if it is repeated a thousand times or more, a lie will remain a lie. Indeed, more countries have come to realize that the US assertions that Chinese 5G network technology presents unacceptable security risks are pure nonsense, and the US targeting Huawei has nothing to do with security concerns, but because it finds it hard to come to terms with China becoming a global tech power.

The White House released its mission statement in October last year, declaring “America will win the global race to 5G”. And it is clear that it is prepared to go to any lengths to force others off the track so it can reach the finish line first.

Huawei is leading the development of 5G, while US companies are lagging behind in the competition. Huawei not only offers superior hardware, but also at lower price, which explains why it has shipped more than 10,000 5G base stations worldwide — and why it has become the target for Washington’s dirty tricks.

With customers in 170 countries and regions, telecoms network operators worldwide have every reason to worry that excluding Huawei from market competition will disrupt the supply of equipment, increase costs to carriers and customers, and delay the rollout of nextgeneration 5G services.

That’s why the GSM Association, which represents the interests of mobile network operators around the world, has called on European governments to join its members in establishing a testing regime to find out for themselves if Huawei poses any security threat, rather than be duped into joining the Washington-orchestrated hounding of Huawei.

The latest message from Britain’s cyber security center should encourage European governments and mobile operators to base their decisions related to Huawei on technical expertise and evidencebased appraisal of risk, instead of ideological mania.