MPS call for 5G ban on Huawei to protect relationships with allies

HUAWEI should be banned from Britain’s core 5G network because it is harming the UK’S relationship with its allies, MPS have said.

A parliamentary select committee has warned that although it found no technical grounds for an outright ban on the telecoms giant, ministers also needed to consider whether Huawei’s technology was “enabling serious human rights abuses” in China.

The committee wrote to Jeremy Wright, the Digital and Culture Secretary, as the Government carries out a review of 5G suppliers amid fears over the potential security risks of allowing Huawei, which has been criticed over links to the Chinese state, to build the network.

Earlier this year, Theresa May gave the green light for the company to supply non-core parts of the 5G network, a decision that put the UK at odds with key allies such as the US and Australia. Trump administration officials have signalled that the next prime minister’s hopes of securing a post-brexit trade deal with the US could be affected by their stance on Huawei.

The science and technology select committee has just completed an investigation into the security threat posed by Huawei building the UK’S 5G network, which will be integral to future infrastructure such as self-driving cars.

Norman Lamb MP, the committee’s chairman, said: “The Government needs to consider whether the use of Huawei’s technology would jeopardise

‘Huawei has been accused of supplying equipment that could be enabling serious human rights abuses’

this country’s ongoing cooperation with our major allies. Moreover, Huawei has been accused of supplying equipment in western China that could be enabling serious human rights abuses. The evidence we heard during our evidence session did little to assure us that this is not the case.”

The committee raised concerns about how Huawei technology was being deployed in Xinjiang province, where the Chinese state has been accused of a brutal campaign of repression against the Muslim Uighur population.

MPS were unconvinced by Huawei executives’ answer that it followed the laws in any country it did business in, with one MP comparing the tech giant to the company that supplied the Nazi death camps with gas, IG Farben.

In his letter, Mr Lamb said that a total ban on Huawei from the telecoms supply chain would not constitute a “proportionate response” to the potential security threat. He argued that much of the telecoms equipment used in the UK was manufactured in China and so banning Huawei outright would not remove “potential Chinese influence from the supply chain”.

The committee said a total ban on Huawei could delay the rollout of 5G in Britain by two or three years. However, it said that network operators were already voluntarily excluding Huawei from the core of its future 5G and that the Government should “mandate the exclusion of Huawei from the core of the UK telecommunications network”.

A spokesman for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “The security and resilience of the UK’S telecoms networks is of paramount importance. We have robust procedures in place to manage risks to national security and are committed to the highest possible security standards.”