EU and US jostle over Europe’s 5G future
- Poland teams up with the United States to ensure only ‘trusted suppliers’ have access to telecoms network
- European Union looks for its own middle ground that will address security concerns
Telecom fault lines are opening up across Europe as the US and Poland team up on 5G security in a veiled attempt to fend off alleged threats from Beijing and as the EU prepares to stake out its own strategy on the next-generation technology.
On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and US Vice-President Mike Pence signed a security agreement on next-generation mobile broadband technology, pledging that “only trusted and reliable suppliers” would be involved in their communications networks.
While the joint declaration did not refer to specific countries or suppliers, statements afterwards left no doubt that the deal was aimed at China and Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said Poland and the US “must stand together to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from using subsidiaries like Huawei to gather intelligence while supporting China’s military and state security services – with our technology”.
And, when asked whether the US had provided evidence of espionage by Huawei, Polish President Andrzej Duda said: “Indeed, Poland’s counter-intelligence has detected activity that could be of espionage nature.”
US and Poland sign 5G security agreement as part of effort to block Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from European networks
In response, China said it was confident that Poland would remain neutral towards Huawei but it warned against “playing political cards and engaging in small circles on the 5G issue”.
The Chinese foreign ministry also called on the US not to “lecture” or “threaten” other countries to align with the US on 5G.
The US has been stepping up pressure on European allies to keep Huawei out of vital infrastructure, but has been met with some resistance in Europe.
In March the US ambassador to Berlin Richard Grenell sent a letter to German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, saying the US would reduce intelligence cooperation if Huawei built Germany’s 5G networks.
But in June, Altmaier met Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei during a visit to China, adding that Huawei was “well aware” that it needed to increase its security standards.
Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, said European countries with fewer economic ties to China, like Poland, might find it easier to push back against Beijing than countries like Germany which were heavily dependent on the Chinese market.
“Poland is the biggest prize the US has been able to claim so far in Europe in its bid to get its allies not to rely on high-risk providers such as Huawei on 5G critical infrastructure,” Benner said.
“The German government is afraid of the party-state’s retribution if it bans Huawei and it is by and large also more suspicious of US motives in the Huawei/5G battle.”
In addition, the European Union is working on a 5G strategy of its own to address security concerns, with the European Agency for Cybersecurity due to complete a 5G threat assessment by October 1.
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Jakub Jakobowski, senior fellow at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Poland, said some European corporations and governments had started preparing for a European approach, based on local technology and secure European value chains.
“That may address some of the security concerns regarding 5G, including those raised by the US. If local EU technologies win the competition among 5G suppliers in Europe, that should also be clearly understandable for China, given its own policy on hi-tech market access,” Jakobowski said.
Meanwhile, Swedish tech company and Huawei rival Eriksson has “basically decided” to open 5G production and research facilities in Poland, according to Morawiecki. The facility would fully supply the European market, and reach full capacity in the first quarter of 2020, the company said.
