Former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull says Huawei 5G would leave Canada’s networks vulnerable to China
Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who
banned China’s Huawei Technologies from providing equipment for his country’s
5G wireless networks, says Canadians should ask themselves a question as they
ponder whether to do the same: are they comfortable with leaving a vital piece
of infrastructure vulnerable to the Chinese government?
A decision on whether to formally ban Shenzhen-based Huawei
from Canada’s 5G networks – and presumably from successor networks still in
development, such as 6G – is expected soon from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s
government.
Mr. Turnbull, who was attending the Halifax International
Security Forum on Saturday, said in an interview that a key factor is trust:
can China be relied upon not to manipulate Huawei’s technology for its own
benefit?
He said the plight of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor
should offer Canada sufficient insight. The two men were jailed for more than
1,000 days on charges Ottawa described as fraudulent. Their detention was
widely regarded as retaliation for Canada arresting Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei
executive, on behalf of the United States.
“You’ve just had two of your citizens held as hostages.
You’re not dealing with a government … that pays too much attention to the rule
of law,” Mr. Turnbull said. “You can’t fool yourself about that.”
He said Australia never accused Huawei of spying or being a
“bad actor,” but simply concluded that allowing the company’s equipment in
telecom networks was too risky.
“Canada has to, and will, make its own call on this. But we
did a very thorough technical analysis on this,” he said.
“It wasn’t a political decision. I asked the Australian
Signals Directorate to see if they could find a way to mitigate the risk. And
the conclusion was we couldn’t. So that was why we made the call.”
According to Mr. Turnbull, the question facing Australia
was: “Do you want the capability to do things adverse to your national interest
in the hands of a company that absolutely would have to act at the direction of
the Chinese government?”
When asked if Ottawa should ban Huawei, Mr. Turnbull offered
this response: “The only reason not to would be if you are comfortable with a
large part of one of your most vital enabling technologies being potentially
able to be interfered with, misused, at the behest of the Communist Party.”
Mr. Turnbull said the manner in which China piled punitive
trade actions on his country after current prime minister Scott Morrison called
for an independent investigation into the origin of the novel coronavirus
should show how comfortable Beijing is with breaking rules to punish others.
“The pattern of behavior suggests they are not averse to
using some coercive leverage,” he said. China blocked Australian imports of a
range of goods, including lobster, beef, barley and wine.
Mr. Turnbull argued that China is exhibiting conflicting
behaviours as it both restricts trade with Australia and applies to join the
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. “There is a sort of almost cognitive
dissonance going on,” he said. “How do you say ‘we’re going to use trade as a
means of beating you up for daring to raise questions about the origins of the
coronavirus and at the same time we want to join a free trade agreement with
you’?”
Mr. Turnbull’s government brought in a foreign influence
registry to call attention to people working for foreign governments in his
country. Two former Canadian ambassadors to China have urged Canada to adopt a
similar registry. The idea was also proposed by Canada’s Conservative Party in
its 2021 election platform.
Australia’s registry is similar to a foreign agents registry
put in place in the United States more than 80 years ago.
Asked if Canada would benefit from such a registry, the
former Australian leader said there’s nothing to be lost by more transparency.
“If somebody is working for or acting on behalf of a foreign government or
political party or corporation, why shouldn’t it be a matter of public
knowledge? … If what you are doing is fine, why aren’t you prepared to tell
everyone about it?”
Mr. Turnbull advised Canadians to talk softly but act
defensively on security matters.
“The lesson is: avoid boisterous rhetoric. Leave that to the
Americans,” he said.
“There is no point being gratuitously belligerent. We don’t
need to be flamboyant. Just get the job done.”
“Just calmly and consistently defend your sovereignty.”
He said America can afford to be more outspoken than middle
powers.
“China absolutely understands the difference between
superpowers and the rest. China tolerates things from the Americans that would
send them off the deep end if it came from Canada or Australia.”
In a sign that Ottawa is taking a tougher approach to China,
the federal government ordered a Chinese state-owned telecom in August to cease
operating in Canada, over national security concerns. China Mobile was told to
either wind up its subsidiary, China Mobile International Canada (CMI Canada),
or divest itself of the business. The order came to light after the telecom
challenged it in court on Sept. 7.
In July, the government unveiled revised guidelines laying
out new areas of concern for Ottawa as it scrutinizes foreign takeovers and
investments in key sectors of the economy, as well as funding of high-end
research. The move was in response to concerns raised by the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service about the loss of intellectual property and sensitive
technology to foreign countries such as China.
After the arrest of the Michaels in late 2018, the federal
government rebuffed questions about whether it would follow key allies and ban
Huawei, saying it was still conducting a cybersecurity review of 5G.
Officials at Canada’s major telecommunications companies
have told The Globe previously that they expect Ottawa to bar Huawei. BCE Inc.,
Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. have opted instead to use 5G gear
from Finland’s Nokia, Sweden’s Ericsson or South Korea’s Samsung.
The Canadian telecom executives said they believe Ottawa
will give them two to three years to phase out their current Huawei gear,
because it is unlikely the government will compensate them for the billions of
dollars required to rip it out and replace it immediately.
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