Faced with the threat of espionage by China, the government of Boris Johnson has chosen to ban telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei from the construction of the British 5G network. The first country in Europe to take such a decision, the United Kingdom is following in the footsteps of the United States, which has prohibited Huawei from using their technology to manufacture electronic chips.
There are those who talk about the threat that Huawei would pose to our security, and there are those who act: this is the case of the United Kingdom.
He did it in spectacular fashion on Tuesday and, it must be said, very courageous. Boris Johnson's government has decided to ban Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei from participating in the construction of its 5G network. No British operator will be able to buy Huawei equipment anymore, the latter being suspected, without formal proof so far, of spying for the benefit of Beijing. What convinced the British government was the decision of the United States to prevent Huawei from using American technology to manufacture electronic chips: that means that in future Huawei will use Chinese chips much less sure.
In fact, London believes Huawei will find it easier to spy on the data.
Exactly, and it will be more difficult to detect. The London decision is consistent with what the secret services say: a few days ago, the former MI6 chief, Sir John Sawers, had taken the pen in the press to denounce the risk of espionage. Nothing better than a retired master spy to say out loud what services really think. The decision in London contrasts in any case with the position of the other European countries which were not far away and which are careful not to cross the red line. None have gone so far as to expel Huawei from its networks, for fear of Chinese reprisals.
The other countries are also shrinking from the cost of excluding Huawei.
Yes, British operators are the first to complain about it, it will be expensive. We are talking about two billion pounds. In France, Bouygues and SFR have no desire to spend hundreds of millions of euros each to get rid of their Huawei equipment which runs half of their mobile networks. And beyond the operators, there is the cost, by definition unknown, of the sanctions that China could take in the event of a boycott.
The fact remains that if the United Kingdom is capable of making such a decision, we do not see why Europeans at 27 would not be able to. In recent weeks, whether on Huawei or Hong Kong, the United Kingdom has dared to stand with China while Europe has been much more cautious. The panache is more in London than in Brussels.