Australia’s critical infrastructure — including electricity grids, water supplies and hospitals — could not have been adequately safeguarded if Chinese-owned telecommunications giants Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and ZTE Corp (中興通訊) were allowed to help roll out the nation’s 5G network, a spy chief said.
Australian Signals Directorate Director-General Mike Burgess said his cyberexperts had backed the government’s decision in August to bar the two Chinese companies that he described as “high-risk vendors.”
It was the first time the secretive agency had disclosed such information.
“My advice was to exclude high-risk vendors from the entirety of evolving 5G networks,” Burgess said in a recent speech released by his office yesterday.
Security agencies had previously protected sensitive information and core functions of Australian telecommunications networks by restricting risky vendors to the edges, Burgess said.
“But the distinction between ‘core’ and ‘edge’ collapses in 5G networks. That means that a potential threat anywhere in the network will be a threat to the whole network,” Burgess said.
The next generation of telecom networks will be at the top of every country’s list of critical national infrastructure, he said.
“5G technology will underpin the communications that Australians rely on every day, from our health systems and the potential applications of remote surgery, to self-driving cars and through to the operation of our power and water supply,” Burgess said. “The stakes could not be higher.”
Huawei was banned from bidding for contracts for Australia’s broadband network in 2011. ZTE is a Chinese maker of mobile devices.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Australia of ideological bias against the Chinese companies.
“Cooperation between Chinese and Australian companies is mutually beneficial in nature. Australia should offer convenience for the companies’ cooperation between the two sides, rather than making various excuses to deliberately obstruct the cooperation, such as taking discriminatory measures,” ministry spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said.
“We urge the Australian side to cast away ideological bias and provide a level playing field for Chinese companies’ operations in Australia. We hope Australia will take it seriously,” he added.
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