Trump must stand firm on Huawei to convince US allies to ban the Chinese company from their 5G networks

US allies who hesitate to keep Huawei out of their 5G networks are not only afraid of reprisals from Beijing but also find a Trump-sponsored policy a hard sell. Worse, they are unsure the US will be there for them when the dust settles

Robert Boxwell

Published: 2:00am, 2 Mar 2020

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The top responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens. The United States and its allies all have multiple institutions dedicated to this effort.

Intelligence gathering is a critical component of their work. Sharing intelligence binds them together and helps them connect dots. Since much of the sharing takes place through telecoms systems, keeping these systems secure from adversaries is critical to national security.

Today, this goes beyond simply keeping military and diplomatic secrets from prying eyes. It also means protecting one’s economy, trade secrets and intellectual property. It means keeping propaganda and foreign misinformation off domestic screens. It even means keeping the power to those screens on. Today’s wars, with dangers to democratic society no less destructive than military wars, are being fought on all these battlegrounds.

For years, the US has been sharing concerns with allies about the possible harm to national security that could come from using telecom equipment made by China’s Huawei. These concerns, first documented in a 2011-2012 House intelligence committee investigation into Huawei and Chinese telecom supplier, ZTE, are bipartisan. The committee concluded that “the risks associated with Huawei’s and ZTE’s provision of equipment to US critical infrastructure could undermine core US national-security interests”. Both companies deny this.

Nevertheless, Huawei has become one of the world’s largest telecom equipment suppliers since then, despite being unwelcome in America.

The Huawei logo is pictured at the IFA consumer tech fair in Berlin, Germany, in September last year. Photo: Reuters

As the global roll-out of 5G approached, the US stepped up warnings to allies, going so far as to tell them they might be excluded from US intelligence sharing if they use Huawei equipment. This message has come from the top of the Trump administration: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defence Secretary Mark Esper, House speaker Nancy Pelosi, FBI head Christopher Wray, and, at times, US President Donald Trump himself.

The decision seems straightforward: if installing equipment in a nation’s telecommunications infrastructure poses even a small chance of harming the nation’s security, its leaders shouldn’t do it. Yet the United Kingdom, France and Saudi Arabia have all announced that they won’t ban Huawei. Germany and Canada are on the fence.

One reason US allies are reluctant to ban Huawei is fear of economic reprisal from Beijing. This appeasement seems based on a calculation that the expected cost of Beijing’s retaliation would be greater than the expected cost of compromised national security. Like the United States, they have been sucked more or less into economic dependence on China. Unlike the US, they seem to think that more of this, not less, would be a good thing.

The UK’s decision is especially curious, because senior security officials there have concluded that Huawei is not trustworthy. Now that it is out of the European Union, however, the UK seems even more desperate to curry Beijing’s favour and investment than when former prime minister David Cameron was sharing a pint with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

France’s announcement in November that it will not exclude Huawei didn’t keep China’s embassy in Paris from making a vague threat three weeks ago: “We do not wish to see the development of European companies in China affected due to discrimination against Huawei and protectionism in France and other European countries.”

Beijing’s ambassador to Germany made a similar comment in December.

Canada’s decision is more complex. In 2018, Canada detained Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US Department of Justice. She had been indicted in the US for bank fraud related to Huawei’s dealings with Iran. China arrested two Canadians soon after on what Ottawa believes are bogus charges. A prisoner stand-off of sorts is ongoing.

While worries about reprisals from Beijing seem valid, none want to say this. They mostly cite the low cost of Huawei products as their reason for using them, noting that alternatives like Nokia and Ericsson cost more. The US’ rebuttal is simple: if you think telecoms security is expensive, try not having it.

Playing politics with national security is dangerous. Britain’s Boris Johnson has been criticised by members of his own party, not to mention politicians like Nigel Farage, for his decision to allow Huawei to supply “noncore” pieces of Britain’s 5G infrastructure.

But another reason that US allies won’t ban Huawei is probably Trump himself.

Because of widespread anti-Trump feeling, the leaders of some American allies have trouble selling American proposals to their people nowadays. Trump’s vocal criticism at times also makes it personal for people with politician-sized egos. France has repeatedly stated that it “will not bow to American pressure”, something hard to imagine when Barack Obama was around.

But it’s more than just Trump’s unpopularity. US allies may be justifiably sceptical about whether the US will even be there with them when the Huawei dust settles. They may worry that Huawei could be just a bargaining chip in Trump’s trade negotiations with Beijing.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left) welcomes US President Donald Trump before the start of a round-table meeting during the annual Nato Leaders Summit in Watford, England, on December 4, 2019. The US was disappointed that Johnson allowed Huawei a partial role in the UK’s 5G network. Photo: DPA

In 2018, after ZTE was sanctioned by Congress in what many called a death sentence, Trump gave the company a reprieve after a phone call from Xi. Since then, his administration has given multiple extensions to Huawei related to the start date of a Commerce Department ban on selling critical American technology to the company.

In November, Trump said the US and China would discuss Huawei in the second phase of their trade negotiations.

The only thing worse for the leader of a US ally than taking a political hit at home for standing with Trump on Huawei would be taking that hit and having Trump leave him or her standing alone.

The US security community have led a global push under Trump’s administration against using Huawei products. Yet Trump’s vacillations help Huawei and Beijing and put US security alliances at risk. He should either pardon Huawei – and explain why – or adhere to the security community’s position, permanently and without hedge.

Robert Boxwell is director of the consultancy Opera Advisors

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