Western governments have been made to fear China’s Huawei, but Ireland’s can’t afford to

Fears that Beijing could use Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s technologies for espionage have led successive Western governments to ban, limit, or review the company’s involvement in their communications networks in recent months.

Not so Dublin, Ireland’s capital and a major European tech hub. The government there, led by the centre-right Fine Gael party, has not even hinted of any national security concerns associated with Huawei, which has repeatedly denied that it shares information with the Chinese government.

The United States and Australia, both members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance along with Britain, New Zealand and Canada, banned the Chinese company from any involvement in the roll-out of their 5G networks last year. Canada is widely expected to follow suit. New Zealand’s spy agency stopped a local telco from using Huawei’s 5G equipment in November, citing national security risks – though the government later suggested that the block was temporary.

Britain has so far resisted calls for an outright ban, but does subject the company to special monitoring through the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre, which on Thursday reported that its technologies still presented a “significantly increased risk” after previously identified security flaws were not addressed.

Outside the intelligence alliance, the European Commission issued cybersecurity recommendations last week that ignored US calls for a blanket ban on Huawei, instead urging member states to assess cyber threats to 5G infrastructure in their own national markets. Germany has also been exploring – amid pressure from the US – strong requirements and limits for the Chinese telecoms equipment maker.