Beijing threatens UK over Huawei decision

A branch of British intelligence agency GCHQ is examining extra risks to Huawei products that may arise from the latest US sanctions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture: AFP

China has warned Britain “will meet retaliatory responses” if Boris Johnson’s government bans Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from its 5G network.

The threat was delivered through the state-controlled China Daily, which is overseen by the Chinese Communist Party’s powerful propaganda department.

“Since the Chinese government has attached great significance to the way Huawei is treated overseas, and literally taken it increasingly as a test stone of bilateral ties, its reaction to such a decision should be easy to predict,” the newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.

The editorial — unambiguously headlined “UK will pay price if it carries out decision to exclude ­Huawei — came as it was confirmed the Prime Minister was preparing to reverse his decision to allow the Chinese telecom giant to participate in Britain’s 5G rollout.

It follows a fortnight of threats of economic retaliation against the Australian government for its advocacy of an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

And it comes after Britain, Australia and Canada issued a combined statement that said they were “deeply concerned” about new national security legislation Beijing announced it would impose on Hong Kong.

Under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, China’s state media has been explicitly enlisted into party work, including issuing sharp foreign relations messages

The China Daily editorial warned that a ban by the UK “almost certainly will meet retaliatory responses from Beijing”.

“While the UK is no doubt hoping that toeing the US line on Huawei will help it gain a favourable trade deal with the US, with which it began negotiations this month, the benefits are likely to be offset by the losses,” it said, without naming products it would target.

The Trump administration and its Five Eyes security partners, including Australia, which banned Huawei from its 5G rollout in 2018, had expressed alarm about the telco’s ongoing involvement in the UK.

China’s handling of the coronavirus has emboldened many members of Mr Johnson’s Tory government, who oppose Huawei’s involvement.

The company, which has denied it poses any security risk, has also been involved in the deterioration of China’s bilateral relationship with Canada.

In December 2018, two Canadians — Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — were detained in China in apparent payback for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in December 2018, which was triggered by a legal treaty it has with the US.

Last week, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted that Chinese officials had repeatedly linked the legal case to the two countries’ strained bilateral relationship.