CHINA's telecommunications company, Huawei, has been given a set of clear conditions by Britain and has been told they must meet them if it is to have any involvement in the development of 5G infrastructure.
This was according to Britain’s health minister, who spoke about the matter on Sunday after a report came out saying the firm would be banned from the project. Officials are drawing up proposals to stop installing Huawei Technologies equipment in as little as six months. This came from a report in the Sunday Telegraph who noted it was a reversal of a decision earlier this year.
Asked about the report, health minister Matt Hancock declined to comment on it specifically but said the initial recommendation had always been conditional.
“I wouldn’t comment on leaks of that kind.”
"What I can say is that when we came out with an interim report on this earlier in the year, there are a number of conditions that needed to be met,” he said.
“I’m sure that the National Security Council will look at those conditions, and make the right decision on this, to make sure that we have both a very strong telecoms infrastructure...
“but also that it is secure.”
It was back in January that Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson, had allowed Huawei a minor role in Britain’s 5G network.
However, since making the decision he faced increasing pressure from the United States to ban the telecommunications equipment maker.
Some British lawmakers also backed the US’ call saying their reasoning was on a cause for concern surrounding security.
On Tuesday he toughened his rhetoric on Huawei, warning China he would protect critical infrastructure from “hostile state vendors”.
Ministers have also cited U.S. sanctions as being likely to have an impact on the viability of Huawei as a 5G provider.
The Sunday Telegraph report said that the National Cyber Security Centre had changed its recommendations on Huawei as the sanctions would force the company to use untrusted technology.
A report by GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre has concluded that sanctions, which bar Huawei from using technology relying on American intellectual property have had a “severe” impact on the firm that significantly changes their calculations.
This had led to officials drawing up new proposals on how to stop installing new Huawei equipment in the 5G network.
The course of which should be around six months.
And will also look to speed up the removal of technology that is already in place.
Whitehall figures are now also examining the “ramifications” for existing Huawei equipment in other infrastructure outside 5G.
This is being viewed as a fairly dramatic reversal by the Prime Minister.
Tory MP’s on the backbenches have already started rising up against Mr
Johnson and threatening a parliamentary “insurgency” if he fails to take a tougher approach on Huawei and China.
Debate on the National Security and Investment Bill, which Tories had been preparing to amend to force Mr
Johnson’s hand on Huawei, is now believed to have been postponed until after the summer.