Huawei accuses Washington of using spying claims as a ‘smokescreen’ for protectionism as a US intelligence adviser warns Britain is handing Beijing a ‘loaded gun’ by involving the Chinese company in 5G development
- Jerry Wang, Huawei’s UK boss, said US spying claims were a ‘smokescreen’
- Britain announced they would permit Huawei’s involvement in its 5G project
- Rob Joyce of US intelligence, said the UK was handing Beijing a ‘loaded gun’
- Washington has accused the telecoms giant of acting as a vassal for Beijing
Jerry Wang, CEO of Huawei in the UK, rubbished US claims against his firm
Huawei have accused the American’s of protectionism and using claims it is a vassal of Beijing as a ‘smokescreen’ to keep out competition.
The blistering attack comes as a senior US intelligence adviser warned Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to involve Huawei in developing the UK’s 5G infrastructure was handing China a ‘loaded gun.’
Jerry Wang, CEO of Huawei in the UK, wrote to The Times: ‘Their accusations are a smokescreen for an attack on our recognised technological innovation. They are not based on security concerns, but a barely concealed protectionist trade agenda.’
Rob Joyce, adviser to the US National Security Agency, said that Washington did not want to hand Beijing a ‘loaded gun’ and would be looking closely at the UK decision.
He told the Financial Times: ‘We have got to understand all the details of that and decide what that means.
‘What we will be insistent on is UK decisions can’t put our information at risk but the good news is that the UK already understands that.’
Britain announced they would allow the telecoms giant a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network, seeking to navigate through a bitter mire between Washington and Beijing.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mr Jinping’s official Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on February 1, 2018 in Beijing
A staff member of Huawei uses her mobile phone at the Huawei Digital Transformation Showcase in Shenzhen, China’s Guangdong province in March
Mike Conway, a Republican congressman seeking to block US government officials from using Huawei phones, told The Telegraph: ‘It’s critical that we are wary of who we are giving access to the mobile activity will inevitably take place on 5G networks.
‘Even non-core infrastructure could be used to infiltrate our cellular networks, increasing the risk of Huawei gaining access to privileged communications between Five Eyes [United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand] or Nato nations.’
Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.
In December, a Huawei executive Meng Wanshou, daughter of its founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Canada on a US warrant for allegedly helping to cover breaches of sanctions on Iran.
Britain’s National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, met to discuss Huawei on Tuesday.
Britain will block Huawei from all core parts of the 5G network and access to non-core parts would be restricted, security sources said.
‘It’s essential that we get the balance right, ensuring that our networks are built in a way that is secure against interference from whatever source, but also are competitive,’ said Britain’s finance minister, Philip Hammond.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper first reported the decision.
5G, which will offer much faster data speeds and become the foundation stone of many industries and networks, is seen as one of the biggest innovations since the birth of the internet itself a generation ago.
In what some have compared to the Cold War arms race, the United States is worried 5G dominance would give a competitor such as China an advantage Washington is not ready to accept.
Rob Joyce (US Homeland Security Advisor) during a Five Eyes session: International Panel Discussion on Global Cyber Issues during CYBERUK held at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow on Wednesday
US First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump pose with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan upon arrival to the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida in April 2017
European nations are treading a fine line in the dispute between the world’s two most powerful countries, under pressure from the United States to take a hard line on Huawei but also anxious not to sour trading and diplomatic relations with China.
Huawei welcomed London’s move, though ministers cautioned that a final decision may not have been made.
Britain’s compromise could provide a template for other Western nations to follow as they try to straddle the row between Beijing and Washington.
The world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the anglophone Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – will not use technology from Huawei in its most sensitive networks, a U.S. official said.
‘What I see playing out here is a discussion amongst all of us about the realities of where do you define sensitive networks, where does that start and end,’ the NSA’s Joyce said.
For Britain’s spy masters, the riddle of Huawei is only a part of the wider challenge of securing 5G networks and what they see as the much more fundamental threat from China’s dominance in certain globalised technologies of the future.
Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber centre of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance and said any decision on Huawei had to take into account Britain’s international trading posture.
When asked if the United States was softening on Huawei, he said: ‘I wouldn’t get into language like softening.’
‘I welcome the debate is beginning to inch into wider territory about general standards of security required for 5G to protect us and our allies from any attack,’ said Martin, head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Huawei Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei gestures as he attends a session of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in 2015
Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, right, explains the 5G network system to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as Mahathir visits to Huawei Executive Briefing Center in Beijing on Thursday
Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former engineer in China’s People’s Liberation Army, denies it is spying for Beijing, says it complies with the law and that the United States is trying to smear it because Western companies are falling behind.
Huawei’s equipment is either not present or is being stripped out of existing core networks in Britain, but is widely used in lower risk parts such as radio masts.
The telecoms equipment market is dominated by three suppliers – Huawei, Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia – and network operators oppose any move that would limit competition among them.
Companies such as Samsung, Cisco and China’s ZTE are also targeting parts of the 5G equipment sector.
The world’s second largest mobile company, Vodafone, has warned a complete ban would significantly extend the cost and time to deploy 5G.
What Britain is trying to do is keep Huawei’s technology away from the brain of the network, while using it in the less sensitive parts of the nervous system.
But lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of Britain’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said allowing Huawei to remain in the 5G network would undermine trust between Five Eye allies.
‘Our most important security alliance is the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network,’ Tugendhat said. ‘The problem with therefore having Huawei running our infrastructure is that it undermines that trust.’
Tugendhat said it was difficult to define core and non-core with 5G and that the Chinese company should not be allowed to build Britain’s 5G network.
One of the biggest changes between 4G and 5G is the ability to take the advanced computing power usually kept in the protected ‘core’ of a network and distribute it to other parts of the system.
This will provide more reliable high-speed connections. But it also means engineers will no longer be able to clearly ring-fence the most sensitive parts of the system, U.S. officials say.
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