Warnings over Chinese company Huawei’s links with Sydney Trains
A black-listed company with links to the Chinese Communist Party has signed fresh contracts to operate critical parts of the state’s railway system, leading security experts to warn of potential threats to Australian security.
NSW
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A technology company with links to the Chinese Communist Party, which has been black-listed by the federal government, has signed fresh contracts to operate critical parts of NSW’s infrastructure.
Despite the federal government refusing to do business with tech giant Huawei because of national security concerns, Sydney Trains has one current deal and another recent contract with the company worth at least $5 million.
One of those contracts began in July, almost a year after the federal government banned Huawei from building Australia’s new 5G network because of security concerns.
The contracts with Huawei Technologies (Aust) Pty Ltd relate to a “critical data network” and “multiprotocol label switching” for Sydney Trains.
Details of the deal are on the NSW eTendering website.
While a NSW government spokesman during the week told The Sunday Telegraph they had “no commercial agreements with Huawei”, another government spokesman last night confirmed the deals.
“In line with what is published on the NSW government eTender website, Sydney Trains has two direct contracts with Huawei,” a Sydney Trains spokesman said.
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The two contracts are for Huawei to provide high-level support for legacy fibre-optic switches. UNSW director of Canberra Cyber and former AFP officer Nigel Phair said the deals were “concerning”.
“What is the intelligence that can be gleaned from this and be used for potentially nefarious purposes by the Chinese state?” Mr Phair said.
“There are questions from the Five Eyes (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and US) about how Huawei operates and where their network is monitored. Is all the metadata being kept in Australia or is it going back to Beijing? There are more questions than answers.”
“China does not play by international norms online. Until these questions are answered there’s always going to be an issue.”
The company said it has operated in Australia for 15 years with no security incidents involving their equipment.
“Three premiers of the state have visited our headquarters in Shenzhen and in 2015 premier Mike Baird opened our National Training and Innovation Centre in Chatswood alongside our Rotating CEO Ken Hu,” a Huawei spokesman said.
“We have longstanding agreements in place to supply our technology to NSW government agencies including Sydney Trains and NSW Ambulance.
“As part of our normal course of business Huawei bids for work on projects made available by state governments across Australia in competition with other vendors.”
In 2012 Huawei won a tender to rebuild the NSW Ambulance corporate communications technology system between ambulance stations, regional offices, workshops, control centres, ambulance headquarters and NSW Health.
“We have longstanding agreements in place to supply our technology to agencies including Sydney Trains and NSW Ambulance. The vast majority of our work with Sydney Trains is done via deals with the principal contractors,” the Huawei spokesman said.
“There are a couple of legacy contracts for ongoing maintenance works on equipment we have installed that were signed directly.”
Huawei, which is a major sponsor of the Canberra Raiders NRL Club recently recruited former South Australian senator Nick Xenophon to polish its battered image.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesman refused to comment other than to say that each Australian government department manages its risks under the “Australian Government Protective Security Policy Framework”.