The horror of Chinese espionage ... Huawei ignites the dispute between British and American intelligence

Al Jazeera Net - London

US President Donald Trump's friendship with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a thorny file that may disturb this relationship, after the dispute between Washington and London reached a sensitive issue related to intelligence and security cooperation between the two countries after differing estimates about the ability of the Chinese company Huawei to spy and obtain high security data Confidentiality.

The growing American concerns about the possibility of Britain granting the Chinese company the right to lay down the infrastructure of the fifth generation of the Internet "5G", expressed by a high-level American security delegation who arrived in the capital London to present what he called as new evidence obtained by the American intelligence that there are risks from China exploiting Huawei as a platform to spy on Security information exchange between the two countries.

And it does not appear that American officials succeeded in persuading the British to back away from the idea, and according to leaks from the lengthy meetings between the two parties, British intelligence officials confirmed that the American delegation did not bring anything new, and all the concerns that they had previously presented to the British side had taken into account before taking any decision.

Britain between two fires
The American pressure on London to abandon the idea of ​​cooperating with Huawei is not a product of the moment, but rather lasted for months even before Johnson came to office. His predecessor Theresa May was forced to fire then-defense minister Gavin Williamson, after leaking the details of a security meeting with Huawei officials to finalize the launch of the 5G service.

The government in the United Kingdom says it is taking this step while it is being forced, and it addresses Americans by Johnson that "there is no alternative", and whoever criticizes this step must present "another convincing solution because the British citizen deserves to be given the best possible technologies."

Johnson considers the importance of security cooperation and coordination between London and Washington, and has tried to send messages of reassurance to Americans that he will not take a step that could hinder the exchange of security information with the United States.

Johnson finds himself between two fires, beginning with the loss of the advanced position in intelligence cooperation with the European Union after the "Brexit", and then the fear of losing the most important ally of Britain, the United States.

The US defense budget for 2020 explicitly stated that the US intelligence services should consider the extent of using the communications infrastructure coming from the "opponents" of the United States, especially China and Russia, before concluding any security information exchange agreement with any country.

There is no substitute for "Huawei"
The head of the Information Security Division at East London University, Prince Nimrat, believes that the fifth generation Internet cannot be dispensed with, explaining that Britain has been dealing with Huawei in everything related to servers and communication infrastructure since 1990, and the largest Internet companies in Britain have strong relations with them, thus "It is unreasonable to give up investments that have lasted for more than thirty years."

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, an expert in combating cybercrime warns that replacing Huawei with any other company will require investments in tens of billions of dollars, and set the example of America, "which will find itself three years behind in the world" if it continues to boycott the Chinese company.

Nimrat supports the idea that the British have no other alternative, besides the economic fissure, there is the technical consideration "so far there is no company that can compete with Huawei in relation to the fifth generation Internet."

He added that there is no evidence of the charges against the Chinese company, which explains, in his view, the tone adopted by the British in rejecting the American demands to end cooperation with Huawei.

Digital colony
Turning to the hypothesis that the Chinese company is able to penetrate British security systems, Nimrat says that Huawei is able to do so as long as it has a 5G Internet infrastructure, which provides it with access to the most sensitive and private data, a situation that will make Britain A digital colony of China. "

But this hypothesis remains far in view of the steps taken by the company to reassure the Europeans, among them is the establishment of an information security center that allows them to know how Huawei operates its security and information systems. The company. "

Nimrat believes that Huawei's goal now is to devote Chinese technological excellence away from espionage or entering into security conflicts "because it has no interest in losing many important markets."

The spokesman concluded that the British intelligence services have put the worst scenarios into account, and know the sensitivity of the situation well "and cannot provide China with all its sensitive secrets on a plate, and that Huawei will not venture into the near term at least, because such a step would be the end For the company's presence in the western world. "

Nevertheless, the question remains: Why have British companies not sought to develop this technology themselves?

For the future, British technology companies need to stop using the fifth generation technology from Huawei and invest in sixth generation networks and beyond, and the United Kingdom needs to invest in local innovations and not resort to Chinese technology if it wants to not put itself in this position again.