OANWed, 15 Jul 2020 08:08 UTC
© Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/BBC.comUS President Donald Trump • Matt Hancock
President Trump said he's behind an international push to ban Chinese tech company Huawei. During a speech at the White House Tuesday, he said he was "responsible" for the recent ban against the telecom giant in the U.K.
Officials from the British Digital and Culture Ministry announced they were prohibiting companies from purchasing new equipment from Huawei. The ban cited the country's uncertainty regarding their ability to "guarantee the security of future Huawei equipment." Trump stated:
"We confronted untrustworthy Chinese technology and telecom providers. We convinced many countries...and I did this myself for the most part...not to use Huawei because we think it's an unsafe security risk, it's a big security risk."
The U.K.'s decision came after President Trump signed an executive order in May in which he declared Huawei a threat to U.S. communication networks.
Chinese officials have condemned both bans and have denied any inappropriate relationship between the Chinese government and the tech company.
Comment: While UK health secretary Hancock chided Trump and brushed off White House claims, he negated Washington as the source and touted UK experts instead:
Hancock insisted that the government relied only on "technical advice" from its own experts: "All sorts of people can try to claim credit for the decision, but this was based on a technical assessment by the National Cyber Security Centre about how we could have the highest-quality 5G systems in the future."
On Tuesday, Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden unveiled a plan to ban British mobile operators from buying Huawei 5G equipment after December 31. The companies must also get rid of all of their existing Huawei 5G kits by 2027. Dowden argued that close ties with the Chinese telecoms giant expose Britain to security risks.
Philip Jansen, the CEO of telecoms company BT, warned that a rushed decision to cut ties with Huawei and remove its gear could potentially hurt millions of British mobile customers and even result in "outages."
The Trump administration blacklisted Huawei last year, citing the threat of Beijing using Huawei for surveillance and espionage. Trump and other senior US officials have repeatedly pressured their allies in Europe, including the UK and Germany, to take action against Huawei.
Both Huawei and China have denied all allegations of using the company's capabilities for spying. A spokesperson for Huawei blasted the ban, arguing that purging its gear out of UK's 5G network will only slow down the nation's digital development and increase bills for British consumers.
See also:
The 5G Trojan Horse and what you're not being told!
He warns us about Chinese firms being monitored by communist cells operating inside the companies ..... it doesn't sound too different from US firms being monitored by SJW cells operating inside the companies