Huawei dials up security risks

China’s ambassador Cheng Jingye was dead right when he labelled Canberra’s ban on Huawei from a role in our 5G network “discrimination”. We take the word to mean good judgment rather than racial profiling. The 2018 decision by the Turnbull government was based on an assessment by security agencies that the Chinese tech giant was a “high-risk vendor”. As current ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, then Australian Signals Directorate chief, said at the time, the nature of 5G — which will underpin driverless cars and water and power supply — is that “a potential threat anywhere in the network is a threat to the whole network”. It’s difficult to think of anything more important than getting national security right for vital infrastructure or maintaining the circle of trust among those with whom we share critical intelligence in the Five Eyes alliance.

Huawei is now hitting the road on a charm offensive around Australia, arguing for a “fair go”. There’s no doubt the company is welcome here; through many years it has invested billions and employed thousands of people. But it is a state-run entity, a strategic tool of the Chinese Communist Party. We wonder how far an Australian or US company would get asking to be part of the rollout of a strategic network in China. Or consider the newish Chinese embassy in Canberra; a decade ago Beijing extracted a deal from Kevin Rudd allowing China to ship in a team of workers on diplomatic visas to build the embassy. That did not go down well with the comrades at the construction union. In any case, the 5G ship has sailed so the company should save its PR dollars. There is no political appetite on either side of politics for a change.

Mr Cheng’s opportunism is a result of Britain’s appalling decision to allow Huawei to build its 5G and full-fibre network, albeit with a limit of 35 per cent of “non-core” parts of the project. Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Boris Johnson’s move was a serious error and he hoped the British Prime Minister would eventually cut Huawei completely out of its 5G market. It’s a message Labor’s Anthony Byrne, deputy chairman of parliament’s intelligence committee, delivered to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab when Mr Raab visited Canberra.

That’s what friends do, especially as any damage to Britain’s security is a threat to our interests. As Greg Sheridan explained on Monday, it’s not only, or even primarily, eavesdropping that is the risk. In any serious disagreement with China, Beijing would have the capacity to damage or disable British infrastructure. Plus the 5G decision gravely injures the geostrategic task of Britain’s allies in resisting Huawei’s rising influence. China is winning the 5G technology race via a mix of theft, innovation, subsidies and coercion. Sheridan said Britain’s move made it harder for Western allies to make sure there were viable alternatives to Huawei. Closing the technology gap has to be more creative than blocking Huawei.

Still, Donald Trump is upping the pressure on Mr Johnson and Germany’s Angela Merkel, who is now considering her options on Huawei. US envoy to Germany Richard Grenell said Mr Trump told him to “make clear that any nation who chooses to use an untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardise our ability to share intelligence and information at the highest level”. The US President could not be more clear about the risks to NATO, looming trade deals and the future of Five Eyes. Mr Johnson and Mrs Merkel should heed the 5G advice of their longstanding security partners.