Britain jeopardising China relationship, says Huawei's UK boss
Britain risks throwing away its long-standing relationship
with China if it bans Huawei from its 5G networks at the behest of the United
States as part of a global battle for technological supremacy, the UK chairman
of the tech group told Reuters.
John Browne, a pre-eminent voice in UK Plc and former head
of oil giant BP, said Huawei had become a political football in an escalating
trade dispute between the two superpowers, and Britain risked being damaged in
the process.
Britain granted the telecoms group a limited role in its 5G
network earlier this year, but new U.S. sanctions on chip technology have put
its status as a reliable supplier in doubt, and ministers are likely to take a
tougher stance.
“There is no diplomacy here,” Browne said during a Reuters
Events virtual ‘Build Back Better’ symposium in London. “The UK has had a very
long relationship with China and I hope it’s not one that they simply throw
away.”
Browne, in his final term as chairman of Huawei UK, said
when he joined six years ago, no one could pronounce the company’s name or knew
what it did.
“It’s become very, very visible indeed, and it has become a
football between the United States and China,” he said.
The United States had seen the ascendancy of China in
technologies such as 5G and AI, he said, mirroring the space race in the 1950s
when Russia was first to launch a satellite.
“A very similar reaction is occurring now, because it’s
always been in the interests of the U.S. to be ascendant in this area, it’s
been good for the world as well,” said Browne, a veteran of navigating
geopolitical tensions through his time at BP dealing with Russia.
Were Britain to bar Huawei from its 5G networks, the future
of the Chinese company in a country where it has invested millions of pounds in
research and development would be in doubt.
“They have clearly a lot of business, everything from
smartphones through to 3 and 4G as well as this proposed 5G,” he said.
“If there’s no business and they are prevented from doing
business I would expect them to make decisions to withdraw.”
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