British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will put his friendship with US President Donald Trump to the test this week as he announces whether to allow Huawei a role in the country’s 5G wireless broadband networks.
In the week that the UK ends its 45-year relationship with the European Union, Johnson is expected to make a series of critical infrastructure decisions that could shape his premiership — and the country — for years to come.
The premier is poised to allow Huawei to take a role in developing 5G, despite calls from Trump to ban the Chinese firm over concerns that it could make the network vulnerable to spying in the future. Huawei has always denied posing a security risk. An announcement could come as early as Tuesday.
The Huawei decision is perilous for Johnson. If he bans the company, he risks failing to equip the UK with the technology Huawei is well placed to provide and betraying his pledge to voters to spread ultra-fast Internet services across the country. If he allows Huawei to go ahead, he faces the potential loss of US intelligence cooperation and an angry backlash from the White House at a time when he’s seeking a trade deal with Britain’s closest ally.
Trump and Johnson discussed Huawei on Friday in a phone call following weeks of lobbying from the US to try to persuade the UK to ban the Chinese company from 5G networks over security concerns.
Secretary of state Michael Pompeo added his voice to the public warnings from US officials, ahead of a trip to Britain this week.
‘Momentous decision’
“The UK has a momentous decision ahead on 5G,” he said on Twitter. Pompeo endorsed the view of British Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat that “only nations able to protect their data will be sovereign”.
One option Johnson is considering is imposing a market share cap on Huawei, in a bid to avoid over-reliance on the Chinese company, according to the Financial Times.
On Sunday, Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay said he was confident the UK and U.S. would get a post-Brexit trade deal done despite the tensions over Huawei.
“The key issue in terms of the US trade deal is the clear intent of the Trump administration to have a trade deal with the UK,” Barclay told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show. “They’ve been very clear in terms of how they prioritise that — that they want to have that deal. So yeah, there’s issues in terms of 5G, but that is a UK decision.” — Reported by Jessica Shankleman, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP
