Parliament report links Huawei to CCP, could lead to accelerated ban

A parliamentary inquiry into Huawei’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has today concluded that there is “clear evidence of collusion” between the two bodies.

 

Huawei’s relationship with the CCP has been at the heart of security fears which have plagued the company over the last year, with the US being particularly vocal in denouncing the company’s network equipment as a security risk. Huawei has denied these claims, suggesting that it operates entirely separately from the state; however, this was not enough to stop the UK from first limiting their role in the country’s upcoming 5G networks in January, before extending these limitations to a complete phase out later in the year. 

 

UK operators currently have until 2027 to remove all Huawei equipment from their networks.

 

According to this inquiry by Parliament’s Defence Committee, however, MP’s have decided there is indeed a link between the Chinese vendor giant and their national government. This decision has reportedly been based on testimony from academics, cyber-security experts, and telecoms industry insiders, though Huawei themselves did not reportedly testify. One person cited in the report claims that the CCP financed the Huawei with $75 billion over the last three years, allowing it to sell at such a low price.

 

"It is clear that Huawei is strongly linked to the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist Party, despite its statements to the contrary," the committee concluded. "This is evidenced by its ownership model and the subsidies it has received."

 

Huawei, naturally, has rubbished the report, saying that it “lacked credibility, as it is built on opinion rather than fact”, adding that it was confident people would see through the accusations. 

 

The committee proposed a number of protective measures be taken to ensure the UK’s networks remained secure, including forming a “D10 alliance of democracies to provide alternatives to Chinese technology” – an idea first introduced by UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden back in July – and accelerating the implementation of the Telecoms Security Bill.

 

The report further concludes that the UK’s 2027 deadline for excluding Huawei may be too late and that such measures would need to be accelerated to 2025. Such measures would be anathema to the nation’s operators, many of whom were relieved that the deadline for Huawei equipment removal was set to 2027 and not 2025 when the announcement was first made earlier this year.

 

Huawei has already been under fire on the topic of network security from the UK government earlier this month, with GCHQ’s Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre releasing an oversight report claiming “serious and systematic defects” in Huawei’s software and security. 

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this report coincides with a renewed effort from the US to push its European allies to exclude Huawei, notably in Germany, which had indicated that it is likely to informally exclude Huawei through the enforcement of stricter cybersecurity laws. Huawei is desperately trying to fight for its position in the European market under the weight of new US sanctions, though its grip appears to be slipping.