Huawei’s role in the UK’s 5G network to drop to zero by 2023
May 26, 2020 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been forced to cave into to Conservative backbench rebels opposed to the presence of Huawei in 5G networks and has drawn up plans to reduce the Chinese company’s involvement to zero by 2023, the Guardian reports. The retreat is aimed to avoid defeat when the existing proposal to reduce Huawei to a 35% market share is to be voted on in the House of Commons. Although Johnson boasts an 80 strong majority, the number of Conservative MPs willing to rebel on the issue is now estimated to be 50 – enough in theory to defeat the government as anti-Chinese sentiment hardens in the light of the coronavirus crisis. The retreat will delight the White House which has been relentlessly campaigning against Huawei, but is likely to provoke a hostile reaction from Beijing, which has believed the UK was open to inward investment until now. Sir Iain Duncan Smith welcomed the change of heart. “This is very good news and I hope and believe it will be the start of a complete and thorough review of our dangerous dependency on China.
The original plan of a 35% cap on Huawei investment was agreed in January with the support of Britain’s intelligence agencies. They argued that risks that Huawei equipment could be exploited for mass surveillance could be contained. But 38 Conservative MPs voted with the opposition on an unrelated telecoms bill in early March after Johnson refused to slash Huawei’s market share to zero.
As the coronavirus crisis worsened, China has been accused of not being transparent about the early phases of the disease – while tension has also risen further as Beijing is to impose a new national security law on Hong Kong. Senior ministers also want to reduce the UK’s economic dependance on China for essential goods in the light of the crisis and have begun to draw up “Project Defend” aimed at boosting British self-sufficiency in strategic medical and technological sectors, the Guardian reports.
Amid mounting pressure from the U.S. to limit the supply of chips to Huawei that include or were made with U.S. technology, Huawei has asked the Chinese units of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix – both South Korean companies – for a stable memory chip supply. While memory chip makers are not subject to U.S. government restrictions, Huawei worries that the Trump administration could widen its restrictions later, according to the South China Morning Post.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world