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UK wants 5G alliance of 10 countries, including India, to avoid reliance on Chinese Huawei

The alliance would seek to create an alternative pool of 5G equipment. It would have India, Australia, South Korea, France, Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, US, UK.

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New Delhi: The United Kingdom is pursuing an alliance of ten democracies in order to create an alternative pool of 5G equipment and technologies to avoid reliance on China and especially its telecom giant Huawei, reported UK daily The Times. 

Dubbed as the D10 alliance, it would include India, Australia, and South Korea, in addition to G7 countries, France, Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, the US, and the UK.

This comes just months after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei a limited role in supplying kits for the UK’s 5G networks and capped its market share to 35 per cent. Back then, the UK was one of those who stood out in the face of a US-led drive to ban Huawei from entering the 5G sector.

But by the third week of May, the Johnson government came under increasing pressure from its own Conservative party members, who demanded that Huawei’s equipment should not be allowed in UK’s 5G networks beyond 2023, owing to potential national security concerns.

Following these demands, reports emerged the government was drawing up a plan to phase out Huawei from UK’s 5G networks in the next three years. Last week, a review was launched by the country’s intelligence chiefs, who would look into Huawei’s role in UK’s 5G plans.


Also read: Huawei woos India as the No. 2 wireless market remains on the fence on 5G


UK’s alliance meant to marginalise China

The UK government has already approached Washington about its plan to form the D10 alliance and briefed them about the possible ways to go about it.

Explaining why the UK had initially allowed Huawei, a source in Whitehall told The Times, “We need new entrants to the market. That was the reason we ended up having to go along with Huawei at the time.”

The key thrust behind this alliance is to allow more and more 5G equipment and technology providers to come up. At the same time, ensure that these new entrants belong to like-minded democratic regimes, thus alleviating any security concerns.

“One option would see the club channel investment to technology companies based within its member states. Nokia and Ericsson are the only European suppliers of 5G infrastructure and experts say that they cannot provide 5G kit as quickly or as cheaply as Huawei,” stated the report in The Times.

The plan to form a democratic alliance in order to marginalise the Chinese tech giant Huawei comes at a time when there is rising global backlash against China for its initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak. There is also growing consensus among the British political class regarding resetting relations with Beijing, following the global pandemic and the havoc it has caused in the UK.

Moreover, there has been a concerted effort by the US and several other countries to keep Huawei away from their countries’ 5G networks. These countries have raised concerns regarding potential surveillance and breach of their national security by China using the state-run Huawei.

US sanctions against Huawei & UK intelligence review

Earlier this month, the US government announced its decision to impose more sanctions against Huawei, doubling down its effort to marginalise the Chinese state-owned tech giant. The new round of sanction, which is set to be introduced in September, would restrict Huawei from using US-produced software and semiconductors in the manufacturing of 5G equipment. 

This would force Huawei to seek semiconductors and software from alternative sources. 

Following this announcement, the British government decided to launch an emergency review into how these sanctions would affect Huawei’s ability to supply 5G technology to the UK. The review being conducted by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre is expected to conclude that the US’s sanctions would make it impossible for the UK to use Huawei’s 5G technology. 

“Whitehall sources said the threatened US restrictions meant that any review would almost certainly say that Huawei posed a security risk. A particular concern was that Huawei would become reliant on unfamiliar and untested components, which could be exploited,” noted a report in The Guardian.

Meanwhile, Huawei has denied all the allegations made by the US and other countries, and said the US ban would “damage the trust and collaboration within the global semiconductor industry”.


Also read: German spy chief says Huawei can’t be ‘fully trusted’ in 5G


 

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Chinese does a lot of direct stealing of technology/copyright/intellectual property from the US. There are many Chinese students in the US with Chinese government connections. Transparency and China do not go together. Anyway none of this came from labs through innovation in China. China is the number one manufacturer of cheap goods using copy cat approach. China is good in doing repetitive brainless donut cutting work as they suppress and work their labor force to death. So by forming the alliance and regulating access to technology they can slow down Huawei to a large extent in the next 5-10 years that will stop them on their tracks. Why do we see such visceral reactions to such proposals? Lots of noise is coming from China because they are worried about being strangulated by the US, almost by nipping the Chinese in the bud. Already you see signs of it beginning everywhere and Wuhan CCP virus handling only made it worse. Easy money for china is over now, they might have to work hard instead of building massive copy-cat factories. You cannot eat others lunch every day.

    • How can UK buy something that was copied from UK itself ? Can’t UK produce the equipments themselves if it is already exists in UK ?
      Where is logic ?

  2. A good company which provides cheaper produce in compare to other but here the problem lies with company’s master.Suspicious hidden bug you never know due to strong lock down of communist sanction and China’s expansionist approach bullying the world unilaterally and even using veto power in favor of evil and noxious propaganda like terrorism needs to address and to isolate that China has not world class approach in world class leadership.

  3. If we are not stop the china..we have to give more price .human life..chinese are not like we imagine. .no humanity..their goal is to rule the world. Their own peoples unable to tolerate the one man army .too late wake up ..salute trump…chinese virus killed lakhs. .first they said it’s not contagious..not pandemic .after the huge damage ,they are not feel sorry ..cruel

  4. Anyone can see its all driven by the USA and Trump, he has done so much damage to the USA’s world image the guy needs to be fired. He has caused the Iran, Syria and many other countries allot of pain. Its all about Huawei being the only main competitor to most of the USA companies due to its massive growth in the 5G sector. The security BS that the USA so many times have stated they have proof is like when they also had proof of the WMD’s in Iraq. Such and evil country.

    • Extremely poor take. Go read “Geo-economics and Power Politics in the 21st Century: The Revival of Economic Statecraft” perhaps. Get yourself up to speed on the extreme basics before you talk more nonsense. This is US government designing this policy, not Trump. And they’re doing it for a purely rational reason. Just as China does. Seriously, go back to school boy, there is much to learn for you.

    • Your comment is sooo stupid that i would accuse you of being a third grader. This issue is waaay over your comprehension.

    • It appears,he did not read history of China after takeover by communism,their treatment of neighbours,their occupation of Tibet,parts of India,Taiwan,Hongkong,financial terror,giving loan on very high interest,then taken over same projects,treatmment of Uighor muslims,etc,support of N.Korea,Pakistan.

    • So ur failing to see clearly and criticise CHINA WITH IT’S CORONA VIRUS. INSTEAD UR APPRECIATING THE CHINESE FOR KILLING THE WHOLE WORLD. IT’S A PITY. No wonder about people with weak minds like you. It’s Trump and Taiwan who alerted the world about all the CHINESE HIDDEN SECRETS TO KILL, RULE PLUS EXPANSIONISM. IT’S MR TRUMP WHO HAS MANAGED TO LAY A QUICK STRATEGY TO ENCOURAGE BIOMEDICAL SCIENTISTS TO MANUFACTURE THE CURE PLUS VACCINE.

      IT’S TRUMP WHO HAS SAVED THIS WORLD FROM THE DEVIL🥶🐉 COMMUNISTS. BUT BECAUSE CHINA PAYS PEOPLE LIKE YOU, THAT’S WHY YOU WANT MR TRUMP TO STEP OUT OF THE WAY SO THAT CHINA PROCEEDS WITH IT’S SECURITY THREATS TO THE ENTIRE WORLD.

      BUT TRUMP IS GONNA FIGHT AND STOP CHINA FROM DESTROYING THE ENTIRE WORLD. AMERICA OYE. INDIA OYE. AUSTRALIA OYE. UK OYE. TSIWAN OYE. TRUMP OYE. 👑🇺🇸🙏💪👈👊👌.

      GOD BLESS AMERICA.
      GOD BLESS H.E TRUMP👌🙏🇺🇸

  5. That is silly. What does alliance have to do with technology? Silicon Valley does not lead the world because it belongs to an alliance. 10 losers do not make a winner. Can China form an alliance to overcome the US in semiconductor manufacturing equipment? Look at the international space station, it has a lot of members. The Chinese space station is surpassing it.

    • Wow, two comments in a row. What does alliance have to do with Technology? It’s called Geo-economics. Again go read “Geo-economics and Power Politics in the 21st Century: The Revival of Economic Statecraft” to learn absolute basics.

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