Don’t bow to pressure over Huawei
THE row over Chinese tech firm Huawei being involved in the rollout of a UK 5G mobile network continues to heat up as pressures mount on the Government over national security.
The USA is against us having anything to do it, while the Chinese Ambassador in London is warning the UK that there could be serious implications for us if we try and withdraw from any involvement with Huawei. Both China and the USA are very big beasts in the market place and each is well placed to cause much grief. We badly need a trade deal with the USA as we leave the Euro club, yet upsetting the Chinese could be very counter-productive.
The root of the problem is security, for although the
Chinese deny it, Huawei is closely guided by their government and a monopoly of this specialist technology could lead to our most guarded secrets falling into their hands.
The sad part about all this is that we in the UK have some of the most gifted scientists in the world, yet do not seem able to develop ideas into mass production of inventions at a price that the world is willing to pay.
As this country enters into a very deep recession as a result of Covid, it would well behove the Government to concentrate their minds on backing new ideas and developments that could lead to a substantial number of jobs being created. Rishi Sunak has already indicated that he is prepared to be innovative, as demonstrated by last week’s Summer Statement.
I am not competent to understand all the technological niceties that 5G offers, except that I am told that it will be far more efficient than existing networks and open up great prospects for future development in the field of data transmission.
What I don’t like is being threatened by Ambassador Liu Xiaoming, who is quoted as saying that if the UK succumbs to foreign pressure, namely the
USA, we will “not be able to have a golden era if you treat China is your enemy”.
The threat is very clear, so the Government must decide its position and stick to it, irrespective of any external pressures. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm
AE Harris