Angela Merkel resists US pressure to ban Huawei as Germany launches 5G auction
- Chancellor says government will tighten network security requirements but not single out individual companies
- Citing spying concerns, US has threatened to scale back information sharing with Berlin if it does not exclude hardware from Chinese vendor
Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled she is loath to cave in to US pressure to bar Huawei Technologies, saying she will not single out individual vendors as Germany toughens its security requirements for mobile networks.
“There are two things I don’t believe in,” Merkel said in an onstage discussion on Tuesday at the Global Solutions summit in Berlin. “First, to discuss these very sensitive security questions publicly, and second, to exclude a company simply because it’s from a certain country.’’
The United States has warned it could scale back the sharing of sensitive information with Berlin if it does not exclude hardware made by Huawei from its 5G infrastructure, arguing that Chinese equipment could help Beijing spy on Western companies and governments.
European carriers, however, have warned governments that sidelining Huawei would delay fifth-generation networks by years. The Chinese telecoms giant, which has repeatedly denied US allegations that it could enable Chinese state-ordered spying, is deeply embedded in Germany’s phone networks, so restrictions would be more disruptive than in some other countries.
Germany on Tuesday started selling 5G-ready airwaves to carriers including Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Group and Telefonica. Huawei is not one of the bidders but provides the hopefuls with essential hardware such as antennas and routers.