LONDON – Britain announced Tuesday that it would ban the Chinese tech giant Huawei’s team from the country’s high-speed wireless network, a victory for the Trump administration and a reversal of an earlier decision highlighting how technology has taken center stage. in deepening divide between Western powers and China.
In January, Britain said Huawei equipment could be used on its new 5G network on a limited basis. But since then, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced mounting political pressure domestically to take a tougher line against Beijing, and in May the United States imposed new restrictions to cut Huawei access to important components.
The radical change in Britain indicates a new willingness among Western countries to confront China, a determination that has become firmer since Beijing last month adopted a new law to tighten its grip on Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous city that was a British colony until 1997. On Tuesday Robert O’Brien, President Trump’s national security adviser, was in Paris to meet on China with his counterparts in Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
Critics of Huawei say its close ties to the Chinese government means that Beijing could use the equipment for espionage or to disrupt telecommunications, a point the company strongly disputes.
Arguing that Huawei created too much risk for such a critical and multi-billion dollar project, the government said it would ban the purchase of new Huawei equipment for 5G networks after December, and that existing equipment already installed should be removed from the networks by 2027.
Continuing faster would produce a greater risk to network security and resilience, the government said.
“As the facts have changed, so has our approach,” Oliver Dowden, the government’s minister in charge of telecommunications, told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. “This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the UK’s telecommunications networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and in the long term.”
“This government has clear eyes on China,” he continued. “What we want is a modern and mature relationship with China based on mutual respect.”
The decision is expected to add significant costs and delay the launch of 5G in Britain in approximately two years. However, the latest British security assessment has concluded that it was not necessary to eliminate Huawei’s role in the previous 2G, 3G and 4G networks, and the government is not trying to discourage consumers from using Huawei products.
Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment, represents an early front in a new technological cold war, with ramifications for Internet surveillance and freedom, as well as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
