Spy boss: No pressure on me
Five Eyes had no say in Huawei call or others, says chief
Andrew Hampton, the spy chief who has blocked Spark’s plans to use Huawei for its 5G network, says he has come under no pressure from Five Eyes counterparts or from political quarters in carrying out his role.
He said his role as head of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was tightly prescribed by legislation and he was not able to take into account such issues as international relations or the effect on the economy.
But he said there were several more steps in the process at which the decision could be reconsidered, ultimately by the Minister for the GCSB, Andrew Little.
China’s Government has criticised the decision, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang saying there was “serious concern”.
“We hope the New Zealand Government provides a fair competition environment for Chinese companies operating in New Zealand, and does more to benefit bilateral . . . trust and co-operation,” the spokesman said.
Huawei New Zealand deputy managing director Andrew Bowater yesterday said the company was seeking an urgent meeting with the relevant ministers and officials to understand the Government’s position and get clarification of the process from here.
“There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by Huawei presented and we strongly reject the notion that our business threatens New Zealand in any way.”
Hampton would not comment specifically on the Spark-Huawei case, but he talked about the process generally.
“My role as regulator is very specific about the factors . . . I need to take into account and they are all about ‘is there a network security risk here?’,” Hampton told the Herald yesterday.
“Wider factors about impacts on the economy [or] international relations, they are for later in the process and they will be the [types of things] the minister would need to take into
We strongly reject the notion that our business threatens New Zealand. Andrew Bowater, Huawei NZ
account if it ever got to that point.”
He said that while New Zealand shared intelligence with its Five Eyes Partners — the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia — he had never come under pressure in the regulatory function.
“It is a function I undertake independently from ministers as well.”
Commenting on the Chinese reaction, Foreign Minister Winston Peters suggested China may not have understood the process.
“It is not clear that the Chinese understand there is a process under our law that has begun because of the GCSB statement to Spark,” he told reporters. “Until that process has finished, any interpretation they might have would be erroneous.”
Any suggestion the Government had banned Huawei was not true and he would be attempting to correct that impression with China.