Canada now ‘weakest link’ over Huawei

Canada is now the only Five Eyes member country not to bar the Chinese telco Huawei from its next-generation wireless system.

Huawei has been banned from the 5G rollout in Britain. Picture: AFP

Britain’s decision to ban Huawei from supplying equipment for its 5G network has been welcomed in Australia as a vital step in strengthening the Five Eyes secur­ity alliance.

The move, which overturns an earlier decision by Downing Street, leaves Canada as the only Five Eyes member country not to bar the Chinese telco from its next-generation wireless system.

Experts said Britain’s decis­ion, which follows lobbying by Australia and the US, would shore up the Five Eyes network, which would have been undermined if Britain had allowed ­Huawei into its 5G network.

Fergus Hanson, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre, said Britain’s init­ia­l green light for Huawei equipment “was a bad decision in terms of creating a risk for the Five Eyes”, which is growing into a broader economic security bloc. “If Britain had stuck with its decision and exposed a rift in Five Eyes solidarity, it would be harder to keep expanding (the alliance),” Mr Hanson said.

“The instinct would have been to shrink it down to the core of our interests so we can stay aligned.”

Australian National University National Security College head Rory Medcalf said the decis­ion left Canada as the “weakest link” in the Five Eyes partnership in its exposure to Huawei technology. “But I think it is only a matter of time now before­ Canada revisits its own thinking (on the issue),” he said.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Marise Payne said: “We welcome the UK’s announcement that it has made its decision based on specific national circum­stances and to ensure confidence in the security and resilience of its telecommunic­ations infrastructure.”

China has detained two Canad­ians on charges of espionage in response to the country’s arrest of a top Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradi­tion to the US.

Australia led the way in bannin­g “high risk” telcos from the nation’s 5G network in an August 2018 decis­ion by Malcolm Turnbull. US President Donald Trump banned Huawei last year, while New Zealand has blocked it in what it says is a “vendor-agnostic” approach.