LONDON: Britain said on Friday it was pushing the United States to form a club of 10 nations that could develop its own 5G technology and reduce dependence on China’s technology giant Huawei.

The issue is expected to feature at a G7 summit that US President Donald Trump will host next month against the backdrop of a fierce confrontation with China that has been exacerbated by a global blame game over the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Britain has allowed the Chinese global leader in 5G technology to build up to 35 per cent of the infrastructure necessary to roll out its new speedy data network.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson was reported by The Telegraph newspaper last week to have instructed officials to draw up plans to cut Huawei out of the network by 2023 as relations with China sour.

The Times newspaper said Britain is proposing a “D10” club of democratic partners that groups the G7 nations with Australia and Asian technology leaders South Korea and India.

It said one of the options involves channelling invest­­ments into existing tele­communication com­panies within the 10 member states.

A Downing Street spokes­man confirmed that Britain is reaching out to partners in search for an alternative to Huawei. “We (are) seeking new entrants into the market in order to diversify and that is something we’ve been speaking with our allies about, including the United States,” he said.

Few options

Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson are Europe’s only current alternative options for supplying 5G equipment such as antennas and relay masts. “We need new entrants to the market,” a UK government source told The Times. “That was the reason we ended up having to go along with Huawei at the time.”

Johnson’s decision to include Huawei angered Washington because it believes that the private Chinese company can either spy on Western communica­tions or simply shut down the UK network under orders from Beijing.

The United States has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Huawei that have put the future of Britain’s 5G rollout in peril.

Downing Street said the UK National Cyber Security Centre was studying the implication of the US sanctions on Huawei’s immediate ability to produce the equipment Britain needs.

Pressure on Johnson to cut ties with Huawei is being compounded by the new security law Beijing plans to impose on the once British-held Hong Kong.

London infuriated Beijing on Thursday by saying it would offer 350,000 Hong Kong nationals holding a British National (Oversees) passport the right to relocate to the UK if the new law goes into effect.

But Johnson’s reported plan to completely remove Huawei from the UK network could prove costly at a time when his government is seeking new trade partners following Britain’s exit from the EU.

Johnson challenged his US critics in January to come up with an alternative to Huawei if they did not want Britain to use the Chinese firm.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2020