EU may ban Huawei’s 5G networks for security reasons

The executive bodies of the European Union are considering the option of a complete ban on 5G technologies from the Chinese company Huawei due to a threat to the national security of the countries of the union. This was reported by the Financial Times (FT), citing informed sources. The European Union may prohibit all states from using the equipment of companies that pose a threat to the security of the community, including the Chinese telecommunications corporation Huawei, when building networks of the fifth generation of mobile communications.

The strict ban could replace the 2020 recommendations, which were supposed to limit Huawei’s access to critical EU infrastructure. At that time, such measures, which assumed greater diversification in the industry, did not work – only a third of the countries refused to use Huawei technologies in critical telecommunications segments, while the rest, including Germany, continued to use them. As European Commissioner Thierry Breton lamented, such insignificant efforts undermine the collective security of the EU.

According to FT sources, the main incentive to turn the recommendations into a ban for Brussels was the delay in resolving the issue with Huawei by a number of countries, including Germany, the largest economy on the continent. Nevertheless, Brussels officials will not be able to quickly ban Chinese technologies on the territory of the union. The implementation of such measures requires the support of the European Parliament and the EU member states, which can be provided only by 2024. It is then, the FT adds, that the powers of the current composition of the European Commission will expire.

Huawei itself, as expected, criticized the EU’s intention to ban Chinese technology, accusing Brussels of politicizing the topic of cybersecurity. “Assessing cybersecurity risks without adhering to technology standards, or excluding specific vendors from the system without proper technology assessment is a violation of the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, as well as the laws and regulations of the European Union and its member countries,” the company said, adding, that cases of data theft by Huawei were never discovered.

A series of Western sanctions against Huawei began in 2018 with a ban on the sale of Huawei smartphones at US military bases. Australia later banned the import of Huawei equipment for building 5G networks into its territory. In 2019, a CIA report was released in which US intelligence accused the company of receiving money from Chinese military structures and intelligence agencies. In 2022, Huawei’s telecommunications and video surveillance equipment was banned from sale in the US due to an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

After the start of a special military operation, Huawei curtailed its activities in Russia in an attempt to preserve the European market, recalls Denis Kuskov, CEO of the Telecom Daily analytical agency. This attempt did not lead to a positive result due to the obvious following of the EU in the wake of US policy. The delay in resolving this issue in Brussels is explained by the fact that European officials “counted the money” – without Huawei, the deployment of 5G based on the technologies of its competitors will be 25-30% more expensive. According to the expert, the European Union’s reproaches towards the Chinese company as a whole do not correspond to reality, since now “any equipment can be accused of some kind of use of data for its own purposes.”

In China, there are still strong hopes for full-scale and constructive relations with Europe, explains Alexander Lomanov, head of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at IMEMO RAS. Beijing has almost come to terms with the fact that the United States has taken a course to contain China, but maintaining ties with Europe is still a painful topic for it. That is why China’s reaction to the technology ban Huawei, if it happens, it will be symbolic and slow – at least until the moment when China finally disassociates itself from the EU as a partner. But, according to the expert, China’s stake on good relations with Europe even now does not look too naive – theoretically, the change of the US president and other political events can change the current course of the West in maintaining bloc solidarity towards Beijing.