Huawei\u2019s role in the UK\u2019s 5G networks has again been thrown into doubt, following a tightening of US sanctions on the firm in May.<\/p>\n
The US Government imposed restrictions on the Chinese tech giant that prevented it from using silicon made by American firms.<\/p>\n
The decision led the UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to carry out a review assessing the possible impact it could have on the UK\u2019s networks.<\/p>\n
Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden told MPs the new review is needed to determine the \u201creliability\u201d and viability of Huawei\u2019s future within the UK infrastructure in the face of such restrictions.<\/p>\n
After months of dithering about whether to allow Huawei to build the UK\u2019s 5G networks, the Government finally caved in January and said it could play a limited role in non-core infrastructure that would hopefully limit the possibility of backdoors being installed to enable cyber espionage by the Chinese state.<\/p>\n
While Huawei has repeatedly refuted such claims and said Washington is gripped by anti-Chinese hysteria, the firm is now considered a \u201chigh risk vendor\u201d in the UK. The added US restrictions in May could limit further the meagre role that Huawei has been allowed to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Huawei, the position is very, very simple,\u201d Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters. \u201cI do want to see our critical national infrastructure properly protected from hostile state vendors, so we need to strike that balance and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.\u201d
\nDowden wants to see the playing field become more diverse so the UK is not dependent on a limited number of firms \u2013 currently only Huawei, Nokia and Siemens lead on 5G technology.<\/p>\n
He added that it is the Government\u2019s ambition to remove Huawei from the network \u201cover time\u201d, but refused to set a timeframe for such a move.<\/p>\n
Huawei said it was investing billions of pounds in Britain to make Johnson\u2019s vision of a \u201cconnected Kingdom\u201d a reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been in the UK for 20 years and remain focused on working with our customers and the government to ensure the country gets the jobs and economic growth created by 5G as quickly as possible,\u201d said vice-president Victor Zhang.<\/p>\n
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has disputed suggestions that the US was bullying the UK into taking tougher action against Huawei.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an American sanction against us, it\u2019s an American sanction against the use of American IP (intellectual property) – not British IP – that seems to render part of Huawei equipment inoperable, so the United States are perfectly free to sanction whoever they want,\u201d he said to the Defence Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was British IP being sanctioned by a third country, you might say you\u2019re being bullied or pressurised but it\u2019s not; my understanding is it\u2019s about chip manufacturers and things coming out of Taiwan using US IP and we would impose our view – and we still do – on IP that we own, so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a matter of US bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Huawei\u2019s role in the UK\u2019s 5G networks has again been thrown into doubt, following a tightening of US sanctions on the firm in May. The US Government imposed restrictions on the Chinese tech giant that prevented it from using silicon made by American firms. The decision led the UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n