In early April, when the United States was only approaching the peak of the epidemic (the monstrous 1736 died in the last 24 hours), China triumphantly declared victory over the coronavirus, lifted quarantine in Hubei province (where Wuhan is known all over the world) and opened international transport, restoring transportation and logistics.
At that very time, in the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II addressed the nation on the subject of the coronavirus epidemic that had arrived on the island. Prime Minister Boris Johnson declares himself infected. The whole world is watching his drama: first Johnson spits on some kind of quarantine and a virus, defiantly continuing to go to shops, shaking hands and taking selfies with customers in shops and supermarkets, then goes to home quarantine, sending letters to Londoners saying that the virus is actually dangerous, it was in vain that he neglected the advice of doctors, and asks everyone to take care of themselves and observe self-isolation, and then they end up in intensive care. Personally, I believe in Boris and believe that after a heroic fight against the virus, he will triumph and overcome the disease.
However, strange things happen in the UK in those days, while Johnson is in quarantine and in intensive care. Crowds across the country begin to smash and set fire to the towers of 5G networks, behind which the Chinese company Huawei.
Someone in the network and some British media launched a campaign stating that supposedly the largest outbreaks of disease in Britain are within a 5G tower radius. I will not give these cards as an illustration, because for any educated person, the connection of the virus and the signal towers of telecommunication companies seems unreasonable. It would be possible to take this seriously if it was a question of hazardous radiation and, for example, an increase in cancer, but this requires time, statistics of cases - we are talking about years of study of the issue.
What then could be the connection between the arson of 5G network towers and the coronavirus? Why is someone pushing us to think about this relationship? Well, ok, then we will think and take a closer look at the map (the world, not the Great Britain map). And yes - there is a connection. Just look at the map of the deployment of 5G networks in the world and Europe to notice a clear connection between the epidemic and the deployment of Huawei networks. But, of course, there is no correlation between the "radiation" of towers and virus infection.
So, let's start with Britain. The fact is that 5G networks in the UK are established by the Chinese company Huawei, with which the administration of President Trump is fighting with the state at the highest level.
The official position of the US government is as follows: Huawei's telecommunications equipment can be used by the Chinese government to eavesdrop, illegally collect data, spy and interfere with other telecommunications networks. According to the latest US military doctrine, China is one of the country's greatest national security threats.
The war against Huawei has been waged by Trump since his arrival at the White House, but reached its peak in 2018, when the daughter of the company's founder Meng Wangzhou was arrested in Vancouver (Canada) at the request of the United States. As if waking up from a lethargic dream, during which even Silicon Valley transferred all its production to China, the USA suddenly realized that the technological revolution took place in the world without them. This awakening happened around the time when Huawei became the second smartphone manufacturer in the world, developed and began to massively introduce 5G, and also took up issues of global expansion.
Huawei has turned its gaze to the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and even Latin America. (Today, one of the largest countries in the continent, Brazil, is ready to launch 5G networks. Leonardo de Morais, the manager of the Brazilian regulator Anatel, said in an interview with Reuters that the auction for the right to use 5G for local operators due to coronavirus will be postponed to November-December 2020, but the very arrival of Huawei in the Brazilian market is already a settled issue and depends on the decision of the President’s National Security Advisor).
Despite the fact that South America - a strategic outpost for the United States and Brazil-studded by the towers of the Chinese company - is a nightmare for the security of America, the biggest blow to Washington was not London, but Brazil.
The UK, one of the key and backbone countries of NATO, in the last days of January 2020 allowed Chinese Huawei to build part of the national 5G network, despite tremendous pressure and threats from the United States.
The British National Security Council has concluded that the security risks posed by the Chinese company can be managed. Johnson instructed to voice this decision to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dominic Raab.
The end of January and February came under volleys of heavy artillery of the negotiation processes of the USA - Great Britain. US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, State Department head Mike Pompeo and Trump himself have warned UK officials about the dangers of using Huawei equipment.
The UK’s decision is to ban the company’s equipment in the centralized parts of the 5G infrastructure that send data through the network, as well as in vulnerable areas near military and nuclear facilities. Only additional peripheral equipment is allowed, and Huawei's market share should be reduced to 35% within three years. The US responds: without government intervention, the UK will become dependent on Huawei equipment for these three years.
Why did the British so rested on Huawei? For the simple reason that this Chinese company is the 5G global telecommunications leader. Somewhere nearby, but far behind are Finnish Nokia and Swedish Ericsson, who not only lost the global smartphone market, but also overslept the 5G technological revolution.
5G is tomorrow not only for world communications, but also for industry, security, transport, space, and the army. Whoever owns the information rules the world. 5G networks deployed around the world, owned by the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, leave no doubt who will own the information in the new digital age coming after the pandemic. And if you look at who is behind Huawei, the US hysteria becomes clear.
Because behind Huawei is the PLA (National Liberation Army of China), which in recent years has invested billions of dollars in research and development of high technology.
“This is how to allow the KGB to build a national telephone network during the Cold War,” commented Senator Republican Tom Cotton of the British government. And, in general, he is right. However, Boris Johnson is indefatigable in the "Chinese question." His arguments are perhaps in these numbers.
According to forecasts by IHS Markit, an economic forecasting consultant, by 2035 5G networks will produce $ 3.6 trillion. In 2019, London-based research company Oxford Economics examined the potential impact of restrictions in eight countries and found that restrictions on Huawei and the deployment of 5G would result in irreversible GDP losses of up to 63 billion.
As we can see, today's UK government does not think like the Cold War hawks thought. It thinks pragmatically and does not operate with the concepts of “national security” or “England is the mistress of the seas”, but juggles with columns of numbers and a great digital future with drones and a robotic industry.
Britain withdrew from the European Union to go along a fine line and not enrage the warring countries with which it will seek trade deals. Canada has yet to survive.
One of the main lobbyists for China’s arrival in the UK is Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who wants to provide Britain with access to advanced communications equipment that is vital to everything from virtual reality systems to drones. The key vision plan for the government after Brexit is to turn Britain into a center of high technology.
This angered Trump and Pompeo, who went on Twitter to warn the British government.
Huawei support may affect US-UK trade negotiations, which were due to begin in February. The Wall Street Journal also cites some senior US officials warning of an impending reduction in intelligence exchanges between Washington and London in response to the "Chinese threat."
Even in the ruling Conservative Party of Great Britain there is a split over the question of the great Chinese deal. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat wonders: “Is it worth the risk if even the Vietnamese Communist Party rejected Huawei? Perhaps we should know more about strangers bringing gifts? ”
In late January, when the United Kingdom approved Huawei, it was not yet known that the example of Britain would be followed by Germany, the backbone of the EU. In April, it became known that the German largest industrial giants are starting to build private 5G networks, carefully avoiding advertising who their supplier is.
On March 12, 2020, Reuters reported, citing sources, that France had also given permission to use 5G equipment, despite US calls to exclude the Chinese telecommunications giant from Western communications.
An important nuance: France, like Germany and Great Britain, makes a decision in the midst of a pandemic. Why?
Option one. It is covered in the words of Huawei Technologies chairman Eric Xu on March 31, 2020 during a video press conference from the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen: “I expect the deployment of the 5G network will be delayed in Europe, as the pandemic affected several countries. In China, the introduction of 5G began just after the country's progress in the fight against this disease. ” (Robotization, drones, the most severe quarantine, which gave an unprecedented impetus to the development of digital technologies, the early introduction of the digital renminbi - all this definitely served the introduction of 5G).
Option two, referring to the tactics of the British Prime Minister. Imagine that you are losing in a dispute. The facts are against you, the situation is getting worse. The best thing in this case would be to "throw a dead cat on the table." Everyone will scream: “God, a dead cat on the table!” - in a word, they will talk about what you made them talk about, and not about the subject of discussion. So wrote in 2013, Boris Johnson. Don't all now scream about the dead cat on the table when the story is made?
However, you can offer your own options.
In the queue for decision-making, next to the UK, France and Germany are Spain (it has already begun to deploy 5G networks), Italy, (it practically gave its consent on the eve of the epidemic). 5G deployment debate is in full swing in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and New Zealand. Almost all of them are NATO countries.
China offers the world its 5G for a leap into the high-tech future, while the United States continues to taunt everyone with a club of sanctions and threats of the seizure of accounts (of companies and governments of entire countries). I wonder what in the end will the alliance partners prefer?
A difficult decision remains to be made for Canada, which the White House has drawn into its war with China. If Canada (which has deep and strong scientific ties with China) prefers an alliance with China, NATO can say goodbye.
In any case, today the North Atlantic Alliance is testing its main strength test since its inception.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.