China’s 5G tech may do more than revolutionise communications – it may redraw global security alliances

Thanks to its cutting-edge 5G technology, China has the opportunity to open cracks in the security architecture of the Western camp – the United States and its European allies, but also the Indo-Pacific countries that, in one way or another, are part of America’s global military system. 

Amid espionage worries, US leaders have repeatedly warned that Huawei’s 5G equipment for next-generation communications networks presents a security threat, given the Chinese telecoms giant’s links with China’s government and the People’s Liberation Army.

Particularly, they object that Chinese tech companies are legally forced to cooperate with their country’s intelligence services. Based on this assumption, the US, Japan and Australia have all banned Huawei and ZTE (another top Chinese telecoms firm) from developing their 5G wireless platforms.

Germany, Britain and France are unlikely to keep Huawei out of their new 5G infrastructure, but they have tightened, or are moving to tighten, regulations and standards to mitigate security risks from the possible use of Chinese equipment. The European Union is on the same page. It has not called for an outright ban of Huawei on 5G development, but has urged its member countries to complete a risk assessment by October 1 to find common “mitigating measures that can be used at national level”.