The US on Wednesday upped the pressure on Europe to avoid turning to Huawei Technologies Co (華為) for 5G telecom infrastructure, with a top commander saying NATO forces would cease communicating with their German colleagues if Berlin teams up with the Chinese firm.
The US and several other Western nations, fearful of the security risks posed by a company closely tied to the Chinese government, have shut Huawei out of tenders for the development of super-fast 5G networks.
“We’re concerned about their telecommunications backbone being compromised in the sense that, particularly with 5G, the bandwidth capability and ability to pull data is incredible,” US General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, told US lawmakers.
Photo: AP
“If it also is inside of their defense communications, then we’re not going to communicate with them” across those systems, the general said before the US House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services. “And for the military, that would be a problem.”
Scaparrotti’s comments came during questioning about trade talks in Europe — and Germany in particular — with Chinese telecom groups such as Huawei.
The company has been charged by the US Department of Justice of stealing trade secrets, obstructing a criminal investigation and evading economic sanctions on Iran.
US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger told the committee Huawei represents a “threat” to Europe.
“I can assure you that in all our conversations with all our European partners, we make very clear the threat of Chinese investment or development of the telecommunications infrastructure in Europe,” Wheelbarger said.
These concerns relate to the “security of our communications, both private ... as well as military,” she said.
The two Pentagon officials refused to give further details in public about their concerns, telling elected officials they would discuss the subject in depth during a later closed session.
Germany this month is due to launch auctions for future mobile telecoms infrastructure.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said that Berlin would consult Washington over using technology made by Huawei, although “we will define our standards for ourselves.”
Asked about the security standards that Europe could adopt to protect against Chinese espionage, Wheelbarger said there were none.
“Having looked into Huawei quite a bit a few years ago, I realized the challenges of even having a mitigation plan or strategy for the 4G infrastructure,” she said.
“Given this sort of generational shift that is between 4G and 5G, I am not aware of something that would give us the kind of security we would need to mitigate the challenges it would impose on us,” she said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last