United Kingdom seeks alliance to avoid reliance on Chinese tech
The Boris Johnson government, which has allowed conditional permission to Chinese telecom major Huawei for 5G trials in the country despite Washington's disapproval, approached the Trump administration about a "D10" club of democratic partners, based on the G7 plus Australia, South Korea and India, it said.
The U.K. government had recommended Huawei's participation in its 5G network, but later capped the company's network share at 35% following anger from the USA government, which has battled China over the Chinese tech company's increasing dominance in the global wireless industry.
The US in recent months has increased its action against Huawei, China's first global tech brand and a maker of network equipment and smartphones, preventing it from doing business in the US, as it believes the company known for its technological advancement in 5G is being used by the Chinese leadership to serve their interest.
It said one of the options involves channelling investments into existing telecommunication companies within the 10 member states.
It emerged that Downing Street was drafting up plans to entirely remove Huawei's telecoms equipment from British networks by 2023.
"We (are) seeking new entrants into the market in order to diversify and that is something we've been speaking with our allies about, including the United States", said the spokesman.
"The review into Huawei, launched last week by the UK" s National Cyber Security Centre, followed the announcement of United States sanctions to block the sale of American chips to the company.
A senior Government source told the Sunday Times the Prime Minister wanted to use a new security review "as cover" for getting out of the deal.
Although Nokia and Ericsson are the only European suppliers of 5G infrastructure, experts say that they can not provide a 5G kit as quickly or as cheaply as Huawei.
"(The lack of choice) was the reason we ended up having to go along with Huawei at the time".
Pressure on Johnson to cut ties with Huawei is being compounded by the new security law Beijing plans to impose on the once British-held Hong Kong.
But his reported plan to eventually cut Huawei out of the network could significantly complicate London's relations with China just as Johnson seeks new trade partners following Britain's exit from the EU.
Johnson had challenged his U.S. critics in January to come up with an alternative to Huawei if they did not want Britain to use the Chinese firm.
The U.K. government had recommended Huawei's participation in its 5G network, but later capped the company's network share at 35% following anger from the USA government, which has battled China over the Chinese tech company's increasing dominance in the global wireless industry.
The US in recent months has increased its action against Huawei, China's first global tech brand and a maker of network equipment and smartphones, preventing it from doing business in the US, as it believes the company known for its technological advancement in 5G is being used by the Chinese leadership to serve their interest.
It said one of the options involves channelling investments into existing telecommunication companies within the 10 member states.
It emerged that Downing Street was drafting up plans to entirely remove Huawei's telecoms equipment from British networks by 2023.
"We (are) seeking new entrants into the market in order to diversify and that is something we've been speaking with our allies about, including the United States", said the spokesman.
"The review into Huawei, launched last week by the UK" s National Cyber Security Centre, followed the announcement of United States sanctions to block the sale of American chips to the company.
A senior Government source told the Sunday Times the Prime Minister wanted to use a new security review "as cover" for getting out of the deal.
Although Nokia and Ericsson are the only European suppliers of 5G infrastructure, experts say that they can not provide a 5G kit as quickly or as cheaply as Huawei.
"(The lack of choice) was the reason we ended up having to go along with Huawei at the time".
Pressure on Johnson to cut ties with Huawei is being compounded by the new security law Beijing plans to impose on the once British-held Hong Kong.
But his reported plan to eventually cut Huawei out of the network could significantly complicate London's relations with China just as Johnson seeks new trade partners following Britain's exit from the EU.
Johnson had challenged his U.S. critics in January to come up with an alternative to Huawei if they did not want Britain to use the Chinese firm.
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