‘Europe must maintain own course’: Germany distances itself from US blacklisting of Huawei while Netherlands investigates possible spying
- Powerful BDI (Federation of German Industries) group says Europe ‘must not be dragged into trade dispute’ between China and US
- Dutch intelligence services look into potential ‘back door’ allowing access to customer data on major networks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the powerful BDI (Federation of German Industries) association distanced themselves on Thursday from the US government’s decision to put Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei Technologies on a blacklist.
China has slammed the US move and threatened to take its own steps to protect its companies, in a further test of ties as the economic heavyweights clash over trade.
“Europe needs to maintain its own course,” the BDI said, adding that the European Union would decide independently which companies it would allow to build 5G network infrastructure.
“Europe must not be dragged into the trade dispute between China and the United States,” it added.
Merkel, asked during a news conference about the US decision on Huawei, said Germany would stick to its position that companies bidding in the country’s 5G auction must meet criteria set by the government.
Germany in March set tough rules for vendors supplying telecoms network equipment, but stopped short of singling out Huawei for special treatment due to concerns over its ties to the Chinese government.
The BDI urged the German government and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, to stick to the planned auction procedure and quickly agree on joint security standards.