Canberra’s ruling on Huawei looms as next test of China-Australia ties

China’s Global Times newspaper has urged Australia to allow Huawei to supply its 5G technology to Australian companies.

Australian telcos are seeking government approval to use Huawei 5G technology.

China’s Global Times newspaper has urged Australia to give a Chinese telecommunications giant the go-ahead to supply its 5G technology to Australian companies, describing it as the next test of bilateral relations.

“If Australia wants to improve relations with China, August is a crucial time,” the newspaper writes.

It says the decision would be a “real manifesto of (Australia’s) attitude towards China”, and says that if Australia banned Huawei from taking part in the 5G network, it would rank next to the US in “boycotting Chinese tech companies”.

“August is crucial to determine how resolute (Malcolm) Turnbull is to improve relations with China,” it writes.

The tabloid Global Times is part of the People’s Daily newspaper group and has a focus on international issues. While it is government-owned, it is widely seen as taking a more outspoken stance on global issues than the more conservative official outlets.

The comments follow reports in The Australian this week that the federal government is expected to allow Huawei to supply 5G technology to Australia after placing some restrictions on the scope of its potential business in the next generation mobile network.

Vodafone and Optus already use Huawei equipment for their 4G network. They and TPG are keen to use Huawei for the rollout of their 5G network and have been pushing Canberra to allow them to move ahead with their investment plans.

Telstra is moving ahead with the development of its 5G network with Swedish telco giant Ericsson.

In 2012, Huawei was banned from supplying equipment to the National Broadband Network.

Its potential to supply equipment to the 5G network has been under scrutiny in Canberra, which is taking a closer look at the security implications of a go-ahead.

While there were leaked reports that the government
was considering banning Huawei from participating in 5G in Australia, the company has been campaigning strongly to head off any such move, offering to work with the government to find a workable solution that would satisfy any security concerns.

A blanket ban on Huawei’s 5G capacity in Australia, at a time when China is in a bitter trade war with the US, which is also moving to restrict Chinese telcos, would have global repercussions for the company.

It would also be seen as another anti-China move by Australia while both sides have been working to repair relations.

The Trump administration this week enabled legislation paving the way for a stricter review of foreign investment proposals by defence and security forces, a move seen as aggressively anti-China.