World waking up to China's true intentions to dominate 5G: US government official

Washington: The world is waking up to China's intentions to dominate the 5G telecommunications field amidst the coronavirus pandemic, unrest in Hong Kong, standoff with India and other efforts by Beijing to "conceal, coerce and co-opt the world," a top American diplomat has said.

Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach told reporters that Huawei's deals with the telecommunications operators around the world are evaporating because countries are only allowing trusted vendors of 5G networks.

"It's really giving the political will to government leaders around the world, and also to corporate leaders. Following the pandemic, Hong Kong, skirmishes at the Indian border, and so many other efforts by Beijing to conceal, coerce, and co-opt the world, it's waking up the citizens of the world to the Communist Party's true intentions to dominate 5G. And Huawei's efforts are running out of steam," he said during a news conference on Thursday.

In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth generation technology standard for cellular networks, the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most cellphones currently. Spanish multinational telecommunications company Telefónica states in its digital manifesto that security is paramount.

Its CEO and chairman Jose Lopez this week declared that "Telefónica is proud to be a Clean Path company, and Telefónica in Spain and the UK are fully clean networks. Telefónica Deutschland and Brazil will be, in the near future, without equipment from any untrusted vendors," he said.

Just a few weeks ago, the big three telcos of Canada decided to partner with Ericsson and Nokia because Canadian public opinion was overwhelmingly against allowing Huawei into the 5G networks.

Krach said that the largest telco companies in major countries around the globe are also becoming "Clean Telcos". "In addition to Telefonica, we've seen this with Orange in France, Reliance in India, Telstra in Australia, SK and KT in Korea, Cosmote in Greece, NTT in Japan, and O2 in the United Kingdom," Krach said, adding that the momentum in favour of securing 5G is building.

The more countries, companies and citizens ask whom they should trust with the most sensitive data, the more obvious the answer becomes: not the Chinese Communist Party's surveillance state, the US diplomat said.

Krach said that the UK's decision to reconsider the use of Huawei and its 5G networks resulted in a dramatic backlash from China. It threatened to punish the British bank HSBC, and pull investment from major British infrastructure projects.

"Clearly, the Chinese Communist Party sees much more than mere financial benefit to having Huawei embedded in foreign 5G networks. I think it is no wonder why so many countries are reevaluating their partnerships with Chinese firms and standing up to the Chinese Communist Party's aggression, like Australia," he said.

Earlier this year, Huawei boasted that it had 91 5G commercial contracts signed. That list has dwindled down to low double digits. Krach said that Huawei's deals have evaporated in direct proportion to the threats to retaliate against any country taking steps to protect its citizens and businesses' most personal, sensitive information.

"For too long, Beijing bullied other countries and threatened retaliation if it did not get its way. China is a big marketplace, and consequences of retaliation are real. Just ask the people of Norway, who suffered economically for years after the committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize - and they bestowed that prize on a democracy activist who questioned the Communist Party," he told the reporters.

Alleging that the bullying is out of desperation, perhaps fear, he said China is feeling its 5G dream of global domination suddenly slipping through its fingers.

"We've all had experience with bullies in our lifetime, and if there is one thing we know about bullies, it's that they back down when they're confronted. And they really back down when your friends are standing by your side," Krach added.