Huawei’s 5G Connection Disconnects NATO
One of the most disruptive policies in tech and geopolitics over the summer, the ban imposed by the US government on partnerships between America’s largest tech companies and the Chinese tech giant Huawei, emerged after a slew of legal and diplomatic complications. As US-China tensions rise in its wake, across the Atlantic, European countries are keen to adopt Huawei 5G technologies, creating a rift inside NATO that has great geopolitical implications for the future of the western world.
The ban was put in effect on May 15th, 2019, but the story goes way farther back. One of the most prominent companies in China and in the global tech industry, Huawei stands as the world’s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and the second largest manufacturer of smartphones. Heavily connected to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Huawei’s CEO Ren Zhengfei claims a close friendship with the Peoples’ Republic of China’s (PRC) president Xi Jinping. A CIA report from April 2019 alleged the Chinese State Security held funds in Huawei, highlighting how close the company and the Chinese government are. Combined with Huawei’s aggressive push to implement their 5G telecoms equipment across the western world, this report raised strong suspicions within the Trump administration that the CCP was using Huawei infrastructures to conduct espionage operations. Moreover, the company’s CFO, who is also CEO Zhengfei’s daughter, was convicted of violating US sanctions by making secret trade deals with Iranian banks. The culmination of these issues led to Trump labelling Huawei a “national security threat”, eventually banning all trade operations with American companies.
The US State department also actively discouraged allied European countries from using Huawei equipment in their 5G rollouts. However, these allies seem to be adopting a different approach. Some are welcoming to Huawei’s new technologies, necessary to 5G implementation in their countries. Britain led the way in the end of January, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson “called Trump’s bluff” and saying the UK will pose no restrictions on Huawei equipment on their soil, aggressively going against the White House’s recommendations. Germany is now poised to follow suit in a less vindictive way, fearing to risk deteriorating trade relations with China in the event of such a ban. Moreover, Switzerland, with its neutral diplomatic positions thus free from US pressure, is fully embracing Huawei’s 5G technology. The Swiss are now world leaders in this technology, bringing envious eyes from many neighbors who wish they could replicate this model. Most European countries are in this losing situation where they risk alienation from either one of these two global superpowers. Many Europeans, as Estonia’s former president declares want to follow the US’s lead but the US fails to provide an alternative to Huawei’s infrastructure.
Following its claims of Chinese espionage through Huawei technology, the US government announced it will not be willing to share sensitive information with countries using the tech firm’s equipment. This includes military and geopolitical intelligence, casting a large shadow on the future viability of NATO. Indeed, if the treaty’s key members cannot cooperate anymore, the decades-old symbol of Western unity will be weakened considerably. Even outside of Europe, the UK’s intelligence sharing network with commonwealth countries such as Canada or Australia could alienate the US from close allies. On the other hand, the rising presence of China in European economic policy makes it hard for these countries to risk losing such a powerful partner, knowing the tight links between Huawei and the PRC government.
As US-China tensions escalate and focus shifts to economic and technological aspects, Europe finds itself in a precarious situation, torn between a necessary and irreplaceable trade partner and its most important ally. It seems that a lot of European countries are not willing to participate in these geopolitical power plays between the two superpowers, as shown by their unwillingness to comply with Trump’s ban. As a new “Tech Cold War” emerges, the United States might find itself alone in the Western bloc.