US urges allies to shut China’s Huawei out of 5G

The US government is urging foreign allies to shun telecom equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies.

Huawei uses a giant AI-powered Rubiks Cube to promote its technology in London.

The US government has initiated an extraordinary outreach campaign to foreign allies, trying to persuade mobile phone and internet providers in these countries to avoid telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies, sources say.

American officials have briefed their government counterparts and telecom executives in friendly countries where Huawei equipment is already in wide use, including Germany, Italy and Japan, about what they see as cybersecurity risks.

The US is also considering increasing financial aid for telecommunications development in countries that shun Chinese-made equipment.

One US concern centres on the use of Chinese telecom equipment in countries that host American military bases. The Defence Department has its own satellites and telecom network for sensitive communications, but most traffic at many military installations travels through commercial networks.

The international effort pushes out the battle lines of a US campaign to keep Huawei electronics out of the US.

Some officials see the initiative as part of a broader technological Cold War between US-led allies and China for control of a world that is increasingly digitally connected — and thus increasingly vulnerable to surveillance and malfeasance. They fear the rise of technological giants that could benefit authoritarian governments, including irritants or outright foes of the US.

The overseas push comes as wireless and internet providers around the world prepare to buy new hardware for 5G, the coming generation of mobile technology. 5G promises super-fast connections that enable self-driving cars and the “internet of things”, in which factories and such everyday objects as heart monitors and sneakers are internet-connected.

US officials say they worry about the prospect of Chinese telecom-equipment makers spying on or disabling connections to an exponentially growing universe of things, including components of manufacturing plants.

Huawei has long said it is an employee-owned company and isn’t beholden to any government, and has never used its equipment to spy on or sabotage other countries.

Some members of the “Five Eyes”, a five-member intelligence pact among English-speaking countries that includes the US, have also publicly challenged Huawei.

The Australian government in August banned Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks.