Category Archives: Huawei

China criticises Canada for ‘irresponsible remarks’ over two men charged with spying

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Beijing denounces ‘megaphone diplomacy’ over jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and arrest of Huawei executive

China has sharply criticised Canada over its comments about two Canadians charged with spying, blaming its leaders for “irresponsible” statements and calling on Ottawa to end its “megaphone iplomacy”.

Chinese prosecutors this month charged Canadians Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, over allegations of espionage and providing state secrets.

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BT and Vodafone told to stock up on Huawei kit over US sanctions

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Security officials fear UK telcos could run out of vital parts if US pressure disrupts supplies

British security officials have told telecoms operators to ensure they have adequate stockpiles of Huawei equipment owing to fears that US sanctions will disrupt the Chinese firm’s ability to maintain critical supplies, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Senior officials at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), who are studying the impact of new US measures intended to restrict Huawei’s ability to source advanced microchips, wrote to BT and Vodafone last week, said three people familiar with the matter.

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Global alliance formed to counter China threat amid rising tensions

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Lawmakers from EU parliament and eight other countries create new body

International cooperation is needed to protect democratic values from an increasingly assertive communist China, a new group made up of lawmakers from eight countries and the EU parliament has said.

The legislators, representing parties across the political spectrum, have formed a global alliance, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, to push their governments to take a stronger stance on relations with the country.

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Canada court ruling allows US extradition case of Huawei executive to proceed

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Decision says Meng Wanzhou’s alleged actions in the US would be considered a crime in Canada, a key condition for extradition

A Canadian judge has dealt a major blow to a senior Huawei executive’s attempts to evade extradition to the United States, ruling that the high-profile case against Meng Wanzhou can proceed.

The British Columbia supreme court justice Heather Holmes ruled on Wednesday that the alleged actions of Meng would be considered a crime in Canada – a key condition for extradition to proceed.

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Boris Johnson forced to reduce Huawei’s role in UK’s 5G networks

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PM set to shrink Chinese firm’s involvement to zero by 2023 after caving to backbench pressure

Boris Johnson has been forced to cave into to Conservative backbench rebels opposed to the presence of Huawei in 5G networks and has drawn up plans to reduce the Chinese company’s involvement to zero by 2023.

The prime minister’s retreat is designed to stave off what could have been an embarrassing defeat when his existing proposal to reduce Huawei to a 35% market share was to be voted on in the Commons.

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Trudeau says China fails to understand judiciary system as Canadians detained

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Prime minister condemns Beijing for linking its 2018 detention of two Canadians with arrest of Huawei executive

Beijing’s linking of its detention of two Canadians in China to the arrest of a Chinese executive in Vancouver shows it does not understand the meaning of an independent judiciary, Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

China detained the former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor in December 2018, nine days after the arrest on a US warrant of the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.

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Government majority cut as almost 40 Tories rebel over Huawei

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Narrow victory is warning shot for No 10 which still has to legislate over Huawei’s 5G role

Thirty-eight Tory MPs have rebelled against the government in an unsuccessful attempt to force Boris Johnson to set out a timetable for excluding Huawei from future 5G phone networks.

The government’s majority was cut to 24 as the rebels were defeated by 306 to 282 on an amendment put down by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, amid concerns over the presence of a Chinese supplier at the heart of Britain’s digital infrastructure.

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US ‘very concerned’ over Huawei’s role in UK 5G network

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Trump’s chief of staff gives clear warning about using Chinese firm to supply equipment

Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff has warned there could be “a direct and dramatic impact” on the sharing of intelligence between the US and UK if Boris Johnson’s government goes ahead with allowing Huawei to supply equipment to build the British 5G mobile phone network.

Mick Mulvaney’s remarks represent one of the most forceful warnings yet by senior Trump administration officials, who have repeatedly made clear their concerns about the British decision to allow the Chinese company to supply its technology.

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China accuses Australia of discriminating against Huawei

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Chinese ambassador says consumers not being served well by ‘politically motivated’ ban on tech firm’s entry into 5G network

The Australian government’s ban on Huawei’s participation in building the nation’s 5G network remains a “sore point or thorny issue” between the two countries, the Chinese ambassador said on Monday, as he criticised the government for discriminating against a Chinese company.

Cheng Jingye dismissed concerns Huawei may pose a threat to Australia’s national security given its links to the communist Chinese government, and said Australia’s ban was “politically motivated”.

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US defence secretary warns Huawei 5G will put alliances at risk

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Mark Esper says countries using Chinese technology will put intelligence cooperation at risk

The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, warned that US alliances including the future of Nato were in jeopardy if European countries went ahead with using Chinese Huawei technology in their 5G networks.

Esper also warned future intelligence cooperation would be at risk, as the US would no longer be certain its communications networks were secure.

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Huawei faces new US charges alleging decades-long effort to steal technology

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  • Superseding indictment likely to deepen US-UK tensions
  • Telecoms giant accused of violating Iran and Korea sanctions

Huawei has been accused of stealing trade secrets and lying to US federal investigators in a new indictment that is likely to deepen US-UK tensions over a recent move by the British government to allow the Chinese company to supply 5G equipment for a new network.

The superseding indictment makes new allegations against the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, including claims that the company successfully engaged in a decades-long effort to steal intellectual property, giving it an unfair advantage over competitors.

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No 10 says Johnson’s row with Trump over Huawei was ‘overblown’

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US president was reportedly furious about PM’s decision to use Chinese 5G expertise

Downing Street has sought to play down the significance of a difficult phone call between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson over the UK’s decision to allow Chinese company Huawei to help build its 5G network.

Trump was reported by the FT to have been “apoplectic” about the decision taken by Johnson, and the phone call last week was said by one official to have been “very difficult” and tense.

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Vodafone to remove Huawei from core European networks

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Move will cost €200m over five years but have limited financial impact on UK operations

Vodafone is to remove Huawei equipment from the sensitive, core parts of its mobile networks across Europe at a cost of €200m (£169m) over the next five years.

The group, which has 111 million customers across Europe, has taken the decision after the UK government’s move last week to limit the use of Huawei equipment in the country’s 5G network.

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Huawei ruling will cost us £500m, says BT

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Telecoms group faces big bill for stripping out banned kit from 5G broadband network

Limiting the use of Huawei equipment in BT’s EE 5G mobile and full-fibre broadband networks will cost the telecoms group £500m over the next five years.

BT uses more Huawei equipment in the masts and towers of its mobile network than is allowed under new government rules, meaning it will now have to be stripped out and replaced with hardware from other manufacturers.

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Brexit: No 10 insists fishing waters will be under UK control after Varadkar remarks – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

Here is the Times’s Steven Swinford on the significant of the PMOS’s comments on fishing.

No 10 spokesman suggests access to Britain’s waters for EU fishing boats *will* be the subject of negotiations over future trade deal

‘We are taking back control of our waters

‘It will be for the UK to determine for the best interests of the UK who fishes in those waters’

The PMOS is not talking about some of the post-Brexit Whitehall arrangements.

He says there will be 40 officials working in government taskforce on the EU future partnership.

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Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of ‘doing a runner’ on Huawei

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Labour leadership favourite urges prime minister to face MPs’ questions over 5G decision

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “doing a runner” over the decision on whether to allow Huawei a role in the UK’s 5G infrastructure, as Washington gave a final warning to the UK government over what it called a “momentous” choice.

Ahead of a likely decision on Tuesday, with the cabinet reportedly split and the Trump administration urging Downing Street to block any role for the Chinese telecoms firm, Starmer urged Johnson to make a statement to MPs in the Commons.

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Protesters who demanded Huawei CFO’s release revealed to be paid actors

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More than a dozen people outside Vancouver courtroom with ‘Free Meng’ signs were promised C$100 for two hours’ work on a movie

Protesters calling for the release of a senior Chinese telecommunications executive arrested in Canada have admitted they were paid actors, in the latest twist in a closely watched extradition case that has chilled relations between Ottawa and Beijing.

More than a dozen people joined a demonstration on Monday outside a Vancouver courtroom where the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is fighting extradition to the US for alleged fraud related to sanctions against Iran.

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Huawei says ‘survival is our first priority’ in 2020 as western boycott bites

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Chairman Eric Xu warns that hit from US sanctions means telecoms firm must ‘go all out’ to maintain sales

The embattled Chinese telecommunications company Huawei says “survival” is its first priority after announcing sales were hit hard by a boycott from western countries.

Eric Xu, the company’s chairman, said estimated sales revenue would reach 850bn yuan for 2019 (US$121bn) - up roughly 18% from the previous year, but much lower than initially expected.

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Boris Johnson suggests Huawei role in 5G might harm UK security

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PM signals he is preparing to shut Chinese firm out after lobbying from Donald Trump

Boris Johnson has cast doubt on whether the UK will allow Huawei to invest in its 5G network, suggesting it might “prejudice” the Five Eyes intelligence relationship, after Donald Trump applied pressure for other countries to adopt the US ban.

In his strongest signal so far that he is preparing to shut Huawei out of the network, Johnson said that security concerns were paramount in the decision about the Chinese company.

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Canada officials misled Huawei executive, lawyers argue

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  • Meng Wanzhou ‘led to believe case was immigration-related’
  • Company CFO was in fact held on US arrest warrant

Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou – the Huawei executive at the centre of an extradition battle that has poisoned relations between Canada and China – have argued that officials misled her when she was detained at Vancouver airport.

Before Meng was formally arrested on 1 December, she was questioned for nearly three hours by Canadian border agents. She was also asked to surrender her electronic devices, which border agents searched.

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