Johnson’s Huawei gamble is exactly that
So, they’re in. After all the hullaballoo of recent weeks, the actual announcement that Huawei will be granted access to the UK’s 5G infrastructure was something of a damp squib, slipped out in a press release that didn’t even dare mention the name of the Chinese company.
This is Boris Johnson’s first major decision, and it may come to be seen as his most impactful. Most people think of 3G and 4G as networks offering speedier data access and downloads on mobiles, but 5G is a rather more dramatic step up.
It is revolutionary technology that can, in theory, support self-driving cars, power connected smart cities and deliver the so-called internet of things. It can provide reliable real-time updates on transport, on production statistics, on logistics tracking.
All well and good — as long as the wiring underpinning it is sound. Johnson evidently feels that our future relationship with China, and therefore its state-linked telecoms outfit, will not put that wiring at risk.
That this is a decision that has come from the National Security Council, that there are caps on Huawei’s market access, and that the firm has been designated a “high risk vendor” suggests that the government is not blind to the possibilities that this deal carries great risks.
It is also true that some of the caps are slightly bizarre; Huawei, for instance, will not be allowed access to 5G infrastructure around nuclear sites, but at least one of those nuclear sites is being built by the China General Nuclear Power Group, a state-owned outfit accused of stealing nuclear secrets from the US.
But to govern is to choose. Johnson’s government, on the advice of security officials, has decided that the risks of Chinese interference in the UK’s technological infrastructure are lesser than the economic risks which come from failing to keep up in the global race for fully functioning 5G connectivity.
The National Cyber Security Centre yesterday was at pains to make clear that it understands the risks and has strategies in place to manage them.
At the heart of this is a broken market. Even the government’s own cyber wonks describe the fact that only Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei can run 5G in the UK as “crazy”, and have proposed a host of fixes to encourage real competition.
China distorts the market, of course, having ploughed billions into the development of Huawei’s technology. Downing Street insists it’s smoothed things over with its US counterparts, and there is no risk to intelligence sharing.
But Congress now plays host to plenty of furious US politicians, and when it comes to a future trade deal, the UK will need all the friends there it can muster. Johnson has rolled the dice. Time will tell where it lands.
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