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- Britain may become the latest among the Western alliance nations to ban China’s global telecom giant Huawei from involvement in any future tech projects, according to a Friday report in the British tabloid, The Sun.
- Huawei and Chinese firms like it are set to be legally blocked from participating in any 5G mobile networks rollouts in the UK and all "strategically significant" technology, The Sun reports.
- The report is another blow to the former flagship for Chinese mobile technology.
- The new laws on foreign investment in the UK will reportedly come into effect when the current European Union legislation no longer applies, should Brexit go ahead as planned at the end of March.
New laws in Britain would make the country the latest among the Western alliance nations to ban China’s global telecom giant Huawei from involvement in any future tech projects, according to a Friday report in the British tabloid The Sun.
The new laws on foreign investment in the UK will be implemented to replace the current European Union legislation that will no longer apply to public procurement, if and when Brexit comes into effect.
The Sun reports that those changes will permit the British government to ban Huawei and firms like it from access and involvement in sensitive UK tech projects, the newspaper reported on Friday.
According to The Sun, there are fears within and without British government that leaving the door ajar for Huawei and other Chinese telecom technology producers — particularly when it comes to the rollout of next generation 5G mobile networks.
The Sun reports that government figures worry it would amount to Britain letting China spy on UK citizen’s "private lives and hack UK companies at will."
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson are reportedly among those concerned about the Chinese firm’s reach.
READ MORE: The US has formally requested to extradite Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou from Canada
Williamson has previously warned of "malign activity" by the Chinese government through Huawei’s 5G network, which he said poses serious risks to the country’s national security, according to The Independent.
Last month, The US Justice Department formally charged the Chinese tech giant with bank fraud and conspiring to steal trade secrets.
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Huawei’s ostracizing by Western governments and the detention in Canada of its CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, at the behest of the US, has outraged China and complicated trade negotiations between the two quarreling superpowers.
Guo Ping, Huawei’s rotating chairman, said in a New Year address to employees, titled Fire is the Test of Gold, that while the company hit some challenges in 2018, revenue still grew by more than 20% year-on-year to $108.5 billion.
"The bigger the challenge is, the bigger the honor is," Ping said.
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See Also:
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- Lawyer signals that the legal battle with the US over the fate of the Huawei CFO will be a political one
Source: Business Insider