China 'must clean up its cyber act' for Huawei to be used in 5G network
The defence secretary has said China needs to modify its cyber-behaviour and adopt a code of “fair play” if Beijing wants the British government to allow Huawei technology to be used in future 5G mobile networks. Ben Wallace said a long-awaited decision on Huawei was coming soon, although he could not give a firm date, and told a defence industry audience any conclusions about the company had to be “more than just technical”. Spelling out an additional precondition, the minister said: “This is also about behaviour. You know, it wasn’t that long ago that the United Kingdom and other nations called out China for some of its cyber-activity publicly.
“If we are going to allow countries access to our market, I think we should all expect a code of behaviour that is fair play – we are British, we believe in fair play. So I think that will also be reflected in those discussions.”
The UK has been grappling with whether to allow Huawei to supply 5G network technology for months, a decision that led to the sacking of Gavin Williamson as defence secretary by then prime minister, Theresa May, for leaking what was intended to be the final decision.
