Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies yesterday rejected Australian claims that it poses a security risk, calling the criticism “ill-informed” in an open letter that threatens to inflame already heightened Sino-Canberra tensions.
Australia is likely to ban Huawei from participating in a 5G mobile telecommunications roll-out in the nation, as it fears the company is de facto controlled by the Chinese government and sensitive infrastructure will fall into the hands of Beijing, according to Australian media reports.
Huawei has denied the allegations, and, in a move that threatens to draw Australian politicians into a public spat that would further stain relations with China, dismissed Canberra’s security concerns.
“Recent public commentary around China has referenced Huawei and its role in Australia and prompted some observations around security concerns,” Huawei Australia chairman John Lord and board directors John Brumby and Lance Hockridge wrote in the unprecedented letter. “Many of these comments are ill-informed and not based on facts.”
Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications network equipment and the No. 3 smartphone supplier, has already been virtually shut out from the giant US market because of national security concerns.
Australia has long-standing concerns about Huawei.
In 2012, it banned the company from supplying its massive National Broadband Network and last month Canberra committed millions of dollars to ensure Huawei did not build an Internet cable between Australia and the Solomon Islands.
A decision on 5G would come amid a low in Beijing-Canberra relations. Canberra is preparing to pass laws designed to limit Beijing’s influence in domestic affairs following criticism by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull late last year that Beijing was meddling in its affairs.
Huawei said in the letter that it operates in 170 countries, abiding by national laws and guidelines.
Citing 5G investments in the UK, Canada and New Zealand, the company said those governments had taken up its offer to evaluate the company’s technology to make sure it abided by cybersecurity protocols.
Australian Attorney General Christian Porter refused to comment on the specifics of Huawei’s letter, but said the letter would be seen in a different light once the country’s Foreign Interference Bill, which would require individuals to declare links with foreign governments, is passed.
“[If] you are acting on behalf of what we would define as a foreign government-related entity, and you’re lobbying government, you are trying to affect an outcome for government decisions or you’re trying to affect an outcome of an Australian democratic process, that’s fine, but we simply want it done with full transparency,” Porter told reporters in Canberra.
The bill could pass Australia’s Parliament as early as this week.
“It won’t be great for the relationship if Australia bans Huawei, but it won’t come as a huge surprise,” said Merriden Virrall, director at Australian think tank the Lowy Institute. “What is important is how Australia articulates it. Australia can’t make sweeping statements about great foreign powers. That will determine the response from China.”
Alienating China could herald additional trade restrictions from Beijing, analysts said, as six Australian wines, including some produced by Treasury Wine Estates and Pernod Ricard, continue to suffer in shipping supplies to China.
Australia’s wine exports to China last year were worth A$848 million (US$631.17 million at the current exchange rate) and are forecast to top A$1 billion this year, government figures show.
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