Donald Trump’s executive order effectively bars US companies from using telecoms equipment supplied by ‘foreign adversaries’. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that effectively bars US companies from using telecoms equipment supplied by “foreign adversaries” deemed to pose “unacceptable risks” to national security.
The “national emergency” ban is aimed at controversial Chinese telecom Huawei, which the US claims could use equipment supplied to forthcoming 5G voice and data networks to spy on western governments.
The US has warned allies that if they allow Huawei technology inside their 5G networks they may be frozen out of US intelligence sharing.
Theresa May last month provisionally approved the use of Huawei technology for non-core parts of the UK’s future 5G telecoms networks after a meeting of the National Security Council. A leaked account of the meeting said five cabinet ministers raised concerns about the company. Vodafone has said it will begin rolling out its 5G network – using Huawei technology – on 3 July.
Australia and New Zealand
Australia was the first country to introduce a broad ban on Huawei technology from forthcoming 5G networks because of security concerns. New Zealand later blocked Huawei from participating in a major 5G network. Huawei has lodged a complaint about the Australian ban with the World Trade Organization calling it “obviously discriminative”.
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who introduced the ban, this week warned Theresa May that the potential risks posed by the Chinese company “cannot be effectively mitigated”. In an interview with the Telegraph Turnbull said that Huawei was a “high-risk vendor” and it was not possible to “design a way around” security concerns associated with it.
France
President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France would not block Huawei. “Our perspective is not to block Huawei or any company, it is to preserve our national security and European sovereignty. But I think launching now a technological war or a trade war … is not appropriate,” Macron said at the Paris VivaTech event.
Japan
The firm has been excluded from public procurement.
The telecoms regulator said it would not ban any company from supplying its 5G network. “The operators all work with Huawei technology in their systems, anyway,” said Jochen Homann, the head of the federal network agency. “If Huawei were excluded from the market, this would delay the rollout of the digital networks.”
A US embassy spokeswoman, responding to Germany’s decision, said: “We continue to warn our allies, including Germany, about the dangers insecure 5G equipment present to their economies and national security … If that risk exceeds the threshold for the United States, we will be forced to limit information sharing in the future.”
Belgium
Intelligence agency found no evidence of spying risk, and is unlikely to ban Huawei.
Netherlands
The Dutch intelligence service is investigating whether Huawei is involved in espionage for the Chinese state in the Netherlands, the newspaper De Volkskrant reported on Thursday. Citing intelligence sources, the paper said the General Intelligence and Security Service was probing a possible hidden “back door” into customer data belonging to one of the Netherlands’ three major telecoms providers – VodafoneZiggo, T-Mobile/Tele2 or KPN.
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