The UK government has cast doubt on whether it will allow Huawei to be involved in its 5G rollout, while the firm has launched an appeal of the United States branding it a security threat.
The struggle between Chinese telecoms manufacturer Huawei and key world governments continues this week as the company has launched a fresh legal challenge in the US Court of Appeal. The US added Huawei to a list of banned technology providers back in May in an effort to prevent the company from supplying critical infrastructure for the US 5G network, and has since issued a ban on mobile providers using government funds to buy Huawei equipment.
The UK government announced in April that it would allow Huawei to supply non-critical equipment such as antennas to the UK 5G network, but then later explained that a decision hadn't actually been reached yet. Most recently, the German government announced that it wouldn't prevent Huawei from supplying equipment for its 5G networks.
The whole issue kicked off last year when the Chinese government passed a law requiring all companies to co-operate with state intelligence operations. This prompted fears from international partners that Huawei could at any point be legally compelled to give the Chinese government access to snoop on its 5G network infrastructure.
While the UK Government has yet to make a decision regarding Huawei's involvement in building the UK 5G network, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted at a recent Nato summit that the UK may follow the United States' lead:
"I don't want this country to be hostile to investment from overseas," explained Johnson, adding "On the other hand, we cannot prejudice our vital national security interests nor can we prejudice our ability to cooperate with other Five Eyes security partners. That will be the key criterion that informs our decision about Huawei."
Source: BBC News, The Guardian
