Here’s a question. Do you care who builds your roads or your bridges? Does it matter
to you who builds your rubbish dumps, or for that matter your trains or your railways?
Wherever you live in the world, all these things are all crucial to our lives… But
as long as they work safely, they don’t cost too much, and there’s no corruption
involved, it probably doesn’t feel like it really matters who builds them. But what
about our communication networks? Well, they could be a different matter….
Next-generation, super-fast 5G networks are being rolled out all over the world. You might
not have noticed -- in Monaco, they’re hiding some of the gear away in creative ways. But
5G is being touted as a breakthrough.
“Today we’re bringing 5G to iPhone.”
Both Apple and Google have jumped on it with their latest new phones. But experts say 5G
goes far deeper, opening up whole new applications in areas from advanced medicine to manufacturing.
“5G has the potential to really trigger a new wave of industrialization because it
will be the foundation for data transmission and “Industry 4.0” -- so industrial production
- but also for applications like autonomous driving.”
It all means that 5G will be more embedded in our societies than anything that went before.
Which means that we really need to trust it. That's the dilemma facing countries everywhere
right now. Can they trust the current leader in 5G technology – Huawei -- a company from
China?
America says the answer is clearly “no.” Donald Trump has pulled the plug on Huawei
having any involvement in US 5G networks. And his Secretary of State has been telling
American allies in Europe that they must do the same.
“As a matter of Chinese law, the Chinese government can rightfully demand access to
data flowing through Huawei and ZTE systems. Why would anyone grant such power to a regime
that has already grossly violated cyberspace?”
And that tough line is not expected to change under incoming president Joe Biden.
Some might see an irony in America’s warnings -- its own track record here is hardly spotless.
The Snowden leaks in 2013 showed that its NSA had used so-called “back door” vulnerabilities
in US-made network equipment to tap into vast amounts of internet traffic. Could Chinese
intelligence do the same with Huawei gear?
“There's a big concern that the company itself might build in vulnerabilities into
the code that cannot be discovered very easily. And these vulnerabilities seem accidental
or might seem accidental, but in fact they might be there on purpose -- or even if they
are accidental and they find them afterwards, the company could exploit them. The company
not because of its own interests, but because it might be forced by the Chinese government
to do so.”
Underpinning that concern is the fact that as a Chinese company, Huawei is ultimately
subject to the authority of China’s ruling Communist Party, or CCP.
Huawei insists that there are no back doors in its equipment -- and that it has no notable
ties with the Chinese government. We spoke to its Chief Representative here in Berlin.
“Huawei has no special relations with any government compared to any other private companies
across the world with their governments. And that is the fact.”
But Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei has personally been a member of the Communist Party since
the 1970s. And experts say the party’s power over ALL Chinese firms is enshrined in law.
“The national intelligence law itself, in Article Seven, says that all Chinese people
and organizations, including companies, must support, assist and cooperate with national
intelligence gathering. Now, the same law also says that people and organizations in
China must maintain secrecy over this requirement and over these activities. So therefore, if
you like, not only are people and companies in China obligated to assist in national intelligence
gathering, but they're also obligated to deny in public that they are doing so.”
This degree of state power over Chinese companies is what creates the greatest anxiety in European
capitals. Especially in the light of China’s increasingly authoritarian behaviour.
China has shocked the world with its crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong. And it’s rolling
out a massive surveillance apparatus to monitor its entire population, both online and offline.
The argument goes, that if that’s how China treats its own people, how much can it care
about people in other parts of the world? About their rights to privacy, for example,
or free speech… or about the national security of the countries they live in?
As these questions grow more insistent, some European countries have changed their minds
about Huawei. This summer Britain said it was freezing the company out. France and Sweden
have made similar moves.
Here in Germany, the government has been trying to make up its mind.
It’s not like there’s no alternative. The Nordic duo of Ericsson and Nokia are waiting
in the wings with their own 5G technology, right here in Europe.
But Angela Merkel’s own team has been divided... with the economy minister representing business
in favour of Huawei, and the foreign minister -- who’s worried about geopolitics -- against.
Even the security services have been sending contradictory signals. The head of Germany’s
foreign intelligence, the BND, has warned against Huawei while the BSI, which is the
body responsible for tech security, has suggested it can manage the risks.
Meanwhile some of Germany’s big networks like Deutsche Telekom have already started
installing Huawei’s 5G equipment. They say ripping it out again would cost huge amounts
of money. All adding to the pressure for a clear decision from the top.
Ultimately Angela Merkel in her office back there is going to have to come down on one
side or the other. Huawei’s critics like the liberal Free Democrat Party say that she
must err on the side of caution.
“We cannot be sure that our data, our information that is transferred through 5G is secure and
is not maybe used by the CCP for other reasons. And as long as we cannot rule that out, I
would rule out Huawei from this build-up.”
It all comes back down to that crucial question that we began with… of trust.
“I think you need to view digital technologies, the coming 5G, the Internet of Things, surveillance
issues, we need to view them through the prism of democratic security. Now, that will mean
national security in some ways, but it basically means political security and that you need
to support the values of democracy, of the separation of powers, the rule of law within
these systems, and ensure that they follow what are at the end of the day, values that
are very, very important here in Germany and in Europe. And I think that given the realities,
the political and the economic realities in China, I don't see how Chinese companies can
match those expectations.”
If you follow that thought a little further down the road, you start to imagine a world
divided -- between those who pursue democratic values, and those who don’t. Between those
we trust, and those we don’t. Something like a new Cold War. Nobody says that’s
what they want. But we may end up looking back on this decision about Huawei as a turning
point.