Published 12:42 IST, January 29th 2020
Boris Johnson rejects Trump's concerns, allows Huawei in UK's 5G
UK PM Boris Johnson defied US President Donald Trump on January 28 by allowing the limited role to Chinese telecom giant Huawei in Britain's 5G network.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly defied US President Donald Trump on January 28 by allowing the limited role to Chinese telecom giant Huawei in Britain's 5G network. According to international reports, Johnson's new move citing 'technological progress' in London will frustrate Washington's global attempt to exclude China from the next-generation communication in the Western countries.
Britain reportedly disobeyed its closest ally and chose China few days before Brexit, and declared that 'high-risk vendors' such as Huawei will be allowed into the non-sensitive parts of the 5G network. Companies under the 'risk' umbrella will have only 35 per cent involvement and will also be excluded from the sensitive core, where main data is processed. Furthermore, these companies will also be banned from all the critical networks and locations such as nuclear sites and military bases.
Rejection of Trump's concerns
According to international reports, Johnson's move is an explicit rejection of Trump administration's concerns regarding the Chinese telecom giant. According to the US, Huawei could be used to steal Western secrets and therefore it had banned the company from its 5G networks on national security grounds. However, this move was equally welcomed by the Chinese firm which was founded in 1987 by a former People's Liberation Army engineer.
The British government reportedly said in a statement that Johnson and Trump had spoken on the telephone shortly after the deal was made public. According to the same, Johnson had 'underlined the importance' of like-minded countries to work together in order to diversify the market and break the dominance of a small number of companies.
However, before the phone call between two leaders, an official from US President's administration reportedly said that 'there is no safe option' to allow untrusted vendors to control any part of the 5G networks. The official further added that US looks forward to working with the UK to ensure the exclusion of such vendors. The critical decision of 5G network in Britain has reportedly become one of the first big tests for Johnson's leadership as party members were against the Chinese company.
Updated 12:42 IST, January 29th 2020