| Work Detail |
The Chinese telecom giants industrial espionage activities in Poland have prompted calls for the company to be banned. But while the US is leading the drive for a boycott, EU governments remain undecided.
Despite the arrest of Huawei executive Wang Weijing in Poland on Friday, the Chinese telecom equipment supplier denies that the manager and his Polish accomplice are involved in spying for China. "His alleged actions have no relation to the company," Huawei said in a statement on Sunday, adding that Wangs contract had nevertheless been terminated.
The arrests of Wang and a former high-ranking cybersecurity employee of Polands domestic intelligence agency ABM come a month after Huaweis chief financial officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou — the daughter of the companys founder — was arrested in Canada at the request of US authorities.
Read more: Sierens China: Huawei and diplomatic dynamite
Washington has launched an effort to blacklist the company internationally over security concerns. Several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand already have followed the US call, but the picture in Europe is more nuanced.
That is because Huaweis capabilities in the next-generation 5G mobile communication technology are so attractive. The technology represents a quantum leap in wireless communication speed, and will be key to developing the Internet of Things (IoT), including self-driving cars.
The Chinese supplier is said to be well ahead of global rivals, such as Swedens Ericsson, Finlands Nokia and South Koreas Samsung. Dexter Thillien, an analyst at Fitch Solutions, said that European operators were looking for alternatives to Huawei, but soon realized that the company was currently "more innovative and probably better for 5G" than others.
EU response mixed
In Europe, Portugals main operator MEO signed a deal with Huawei in December, praising the Chinese companys "know how, competence, talent and capacity to develop technology and invest in our country."
Norway, whose current networks are largely made up of Huawei equipment, is thinking of ways to reduce its "vulnerability." The Nordic countrys transport and communications ministry said recently that it wants to reduce the role of companies with whom Oslo has "no security cooperation," — an implicit reference to China.
Read more: Huawei could give Chinese spies our secrets, EU fears
Concern for 5G security is shared by Britain, where Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said he had "grave, very deep concerns about Huawei providing the 5G network in Britain."
And the Czech cybersecurity agency said Chinese laws "force private companies with their headquarters in China to cooperate with intelligence services," which could make them "a threat" if involved with a countrys key technology.
Germany sitting on the fence
Meanwhile, Europes top economy, Germany, is under increasing pressure from Washington to follow suit. The country has relatively good relations with China, which is why Berlin has sought to keep a distance from the USs aggressive trade stance toward Beijing.
On the other hand, China is said to employ around one million intelligence agents, many of whom are focused on obtaining German technologies. The German Interior Ministry estimates that Chinese economic espionage could cost Europes largest economy between €20 billion ($22.9 billion) and €50 billion a year.
Read more: ZTE, Huawei bans: Genuine security concerns or part of China trade spat?
"Germany is an important target for Beijing, because its companies are world-class in areas the Chinese Communist Party considers strategic," Peter Mattis, research fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, told DW
The countrys biggest telecoms firm, Deutsche Telekom, said recently it was reviewing its vendor plans in Germany and other European markets where it operates. According to the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), the German Network Agency in charge of Germanys 5G auction, security is not included in the conditions for awarding the contract. And some agree this is the way to go.
"I think Germany is right to not blindly follow any foreign advice regarding Chinese 5G manufacturers," Jan-Peter Kleinhans, project director for IoT Security at Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, told DW.
Kleinhans believes China conducts extensive industrial espionage, but that this should not be conflated with 5G. "Banning Chinese 5G manufacturers from public procurement because of fear over industrial espionage does not make sense," Kleinhans says.
Kleinhans noted that Huawei already provides about 45 percent of Germanys 4G base stations and so far there has been no case in which they have been exploited for industrial espionage.
"It is technically possible but absolutely not efficient to use base stations for industrial espionage. It is much easier to use conventional attack vectors such as phishing mails or other means of network exploitation to compromise a network and establish persistent access to then be able to steal blueprints, data," he says.
It is difficult to assess these threats from outside the security community, David Kennedy, a telecom analyst, said. "But there have never been any reported instances of backdoors or anything similar in Huawei equipment," he told DW. |
