UK accelerates Huawei 5G ban and risks a backlash from Beijing

Britain will ban the installation of new Huawei equipment in its 5G network from September 2021, several years earlier than expected, in an acceleration of the crackdown on the Chinese giant’s role in the future of British telecoms. The move brings the United Kingdom further into line with the policy of the United States, but also risks provoking a refreshed economic and diplomatic backlash from Beijing.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the hastening of the process “will put an end to fears operators might stockpile kit in the hope a ban might be reversed” by a new government. Sinosceptic Conservative backbenchers had feared that a slow timetable would lead to a watering-down of the ban over time by politicians seeking to improve the trading relationship with Beijing.

Members of the China Research Group (CRG), a Parliamentary group set up earlier in the year to consistently pressure the government to take a harder line against the Chinese government, have praised the latest announcement. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, who is also one of the most outspoken members of the CRG, said: “This is a welcome and important decision by Oliver Dowden. It makes completely clear where Britain stands.”

Along with banning new installations from next year, the government has vowed to have zero Huawei equipment in the 5G network by 2027, with the cost of removing current installations expected to be in the billions. Telecoms companies will also have to adhere to stringent new security requirements going forward to prevent a creeping return of Chinese technology – those refusing to adhere risk being fined of up to ten per cent of their turnover, or up to £100,000 per day.

The CRG believes its influence in Westminster has been strengthened by two factors: Boris Johnson’s interest in showing the incoming Biden administration that he can be a partner in the great power competition between the US and China, as well as the increasing belligerence of the Chinese government.

In the past few months, Beijing has exploited the world’s focus on the coronavirus pandemic to assert its hegemonic powers.

The Chinese government has threatened to sink boats from Vietnam, consistently breached Taiwanese airspace with fighter jets, and instigated confrontations with India in the Himalayas. It has also continued to break its promises to preserve a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong – arresting civilians for peaceful protest and expelling elected members of Hong Kong authorities – while re-imposing a series of economic blows on vital Australian imports, a close security ally of the UK and the US in the 5 Eyes network. All the while, the Chinese state continues to “re-educate” Uyghur Muslims in mass internment centres, which have reasonably described as concentration camps, in Xinjiang.

Most recently, a Chinese government account posted a tweet with a fabricated picture depicting an Australian soldier murdering an Afghan child, provoking deserved outrage in Canberra. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has since doubled down and rejected Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s call for an apology.

In accelerating the removal of Huawei equipment, Downing Street is signalling its increasing determination to take a principled stand against Beijing. Geopolitics and traditional allies will be prioritised over trade and economic expedience, with Britain cementing its position as America’s partner of choice in tackling the West’s most serious geopolitical threat since the Cold War.