Fear of Huawei as a security risk, how justified is it?
Trump talks about the company as a security risk and threatens to withdraw intelligence cooperation with allies who choose to include Huawei in the 5G network. Huawei usually contends that they would never allow the Chinese state to exploit them for espionage and speak of themselves as a privately owned company.
Tim Rühlig at the Foreign Policy Institute, UI, who just published a report on the debate on Huawei and 5G, believes there are reasons to be skeptical of Huawei's independence:
- Although they would like to be a normal company like everyone else, it is not possible. By law, they must share information with the Chinese state, if required. In this way, they are not a reliable company.
A ban - the wrong way to go
But Tim Rühlig at UI still doesn't think a ban is the right way to go.
- Want to spy on the Chinese state or anyone else, they can do it anyway without having to have access to the hardware. You enter via gaps in the software, and such loopholes can find really good hackers at all suppliers.
Rühlig believes that a "Huawei ban" would tease China without doing any great benefit. Better, according to him, to make sure to spread the 5g eggs in different baskets. Make sure that you do not become dependent on a single supplier, and in the case of Huawei, thus avoid becoming dependent on China.
- Diversify as much as possible, it is the surest way to move forward on the issue. Can you make sure that Huawei has no more than 30% market share, that would be perfect.
The UK and Norway are diversifying
This is exactly what the UK has chosen to do, by setting a ceiling for Huawei on 35% of the market for 5G equipment. In Norway, a similar solution was recently chosen: telecommunications operators may have a maximum of 50% of the base stations from a supplier from a country with which they do not have security policy cooperation. Not a pronounced "Huawei ban", but after that, Norway's largest telecom company chose to dump Huawei and let Ericsson build the 5G network instead.
How Sweden now chooses to go this balance in practice remains to be seen.
Huawei writes the following in a comment to SVT:
“Huawei is an independent private company wholly owned by its employees. We are not independent of any other organization or government and make independent decisions. Our goal is always to provide the best services and products to our customers in a free and open competition in the market. "