Blow to US efforts to ban Chinese company from allies’ telecoms networks

KUWAIT: The British government has concluded yesterday that it can mitigate the risk from using Huawei equipment in 5G networks, in a serious blow to US efforts to persuade allies to ban the Chinese supplier from high-speed telecommunications systems.

The UK National Cyber Security Centre has determined that there are ways to limit the risks from using Huawei in future 5G ultra-fast networks, two people familiar with the conclusion, which has not been made public, told the Financial Times.

The finding comes despite stepped-up US efforts to persuade countries to bar Huawei from their networks on the basis that it could help China conduct espionage or cyber sabotage. The US National Security Agency has been sharing more information with allies and partners to underscore the risks, but several European countries, including the UK and Germany, have not been convinced that a ban is warranted. One person familiar with the debate said the British conclusion would “carry great weight” with European leaders, since the UK has access to sensitive US intelligence via its membership of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network.

“Other nations can make the argument that if the British are confident of mitigation against national security threats then they can also reassure their publics and the US administration that they are acting in a prudent manner in continuing to allow their telecommunications.

Robert Hannigan, former head of GCHQ, the UK signals intelligence agency, recently wrote in the FT that NCSC had “never found evidence of malicious Chinese state cyber activity through Huawei” and that any “assertions that any Chinese technology in any part of a 5G network represents an unacceptable risk are nonsense”.