Are the European dominoes falling for Huawei?

Italian newspaper La Repubblica is today reporting that the Italian government is mulling excluding Huawei from its network plans.

 

The report, which did not cite its sources, said that Italy’s Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri and Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini had raised the issue informally, while also adding that Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio had met with the US ambassador last week to discuss Huawei.

 

This is not the first time that Italy has considered blocking Huawei and ZTE from the country’s upcoming 5G networks, with Italy’s security committee Copasir last suggesting that such measures be considered. No such action was ultimately taken, leaving Huawei free to do business within the country.

 

However, while US pressure to ban Huawei was on the whole deflected at the start of the year, with most European countries agreeing to permit the Chinese vendor to various extents, the latest US sanctions against Huawei have rattled the European cage. With the vendor’s semiconductor supply chain in jeopardy due to restrictions, continuing to work with Huawei could be less viable in terms of security – at least, this is the latest rumours surrounding Huawei’s future in the UK, which is reportedly in jeopardy.

 

Yesterday, a French government official was reported as saying that they would not ban the Chinese supplier outright, but that authorisation to work with them would be reviewed in three to eight years.

 

Huawei maintains that they are no security risk and today VP Victor Zhang downplayed the immediate impact of US sanctions. During a media call,  Zhang said that the US sanctions will have no immediate effect on their ability to supply 5G and fibre solutions to the UK. However, when asked about long term solutions to the supply chain disruption, Zhang told reporters that “it is too early” to understand the long-term impact and urged patience.

 

“We believe it is important to wait until all the facts and implications are known,” he said. “Now is not the time to be hasty in making such a crucial decision about Huawei.”

 

With the European community so closely interconnected, it seems likely that decisions to exclude Huawei from national infrastructure in one country will be deeply influential in neighbouring countries. 

 

These discussions are, naturally, music to the US administration’s ears, but the US government’s considerable influence in political decisions across the Atlantic have not gone unremarked, with some arguing that policy was being indirectly ‘dictated’ by the US trade agenda.