Canada will ban Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE from rolling out its 5G network in the country after years of dithering, Justin Trudeau’s government announced Thursday. A decision « unfounded« taken under »pretext » national security, castigated China in the process. Huawei, for its part, denounced a « political decision« Beijing-Ottawa relations have notoriously deteriorated since 2018 with the arrest in Canada, at the request of the United States, of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, who has since returned to China.
The United States hasgreeted » this decision.
« The United States supports efforts to ensure that countries, businesses, and citizens can have confidence in their wireless networks and carriers. We continue to work with allies like Canada to ensure our shared security“, said a spokesman for the American diplomacy.
In a context of Sino-American rivalry, Washington has for its part greatly increased the pressure against the Chinese gems of tech in recent years. Huawei is accused by the United States of posing a danger to national security due to potential and unproven links with Chinese intelligence services, which the company denies. Washington urges its allies to give up ZTE and especially Huawei to equip their 5G networks, arguing that Beijing could use these firms to monitor a country’s communications and data traffic.
A « regrettable political decision » according to the Chinese group
The Chinese group Huawei estimated on Friday that by excluding it from the deployment of its 5G network, Canada had taken a « regrettable political decision« which cannot be justified by »cybersecurity reasons« .
« Huawei equipment, including hardware and software, has been regularly and closely examined by the government and its security agencies under strict quality standards“, added the telecoms group. This decision announced Thursday was long overdue but was postponed by the Canadian government due to tensions between Ottawa and Beijing in recent years.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated notoriously in 2018 with the arrest in Canada, at the request of the United States, of Meng Wanzhou, the financial director of Huawei, since returned to China.
« Over the past 13 years, Huawei Canada has been dedicated to helping Canadian carriers grow their wireless networks and deliver quality services.« , recalled the Chinese juggernaut that it will « lead to significant economic losses in Canada and will increase the cost to Canadians« .
« China firmly opposes“to this decision, declared Wang Wenbin, a spokesman of the Chinese diplomacy in front of the press, assuring that his country would take”all necessary measuresto defend Chinese companies.
« This follows a full review by our security agencies and in consultation with our closest allies.“, had explained to justify this decision the Minister of Industry François-Philippe Champagne. The United States has indeed already excluded Huawei from the deployment of 5G technology on their soil, citing risks of espionage or sabotage of networks. Westerners, which the Chinese telecom giant denies.
Opportunities and risks
Other Canadian allies have followed suit in the United States, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and Sweden.
5G technology, whose deployment is accelerating around the world, offers very high-speed Internet access and is set to play a key role for connected objects.
5G »represents a major opportunity for competition and growth » but « also involves risks« , said Thursday the Canadian Minister of Public Security Marco Mendicino. « There are many hostile actors who are willing to exploit vulnerabilities » in telecommunications networks, he told the press.
The diplomatic relationship between China and Canada soured at the end of 2018 with the arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive and daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecom group.
This had marked the beginning of a major crisis between the two countries called « hostage diplomacy« , with the parallel detention in China of two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor.
After nearly three years of proceedings, Meng Wanzhou was finally released at the end of September 2021 and returned to China. The two Canadians were later released.
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