The UK government appears poised to reverse its earlier decision to allow Huawei equipment in the country’s 5G networks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has instructed officials to prepare plans to remove Huawei gear from national 5G networks by 2023.
An emergency review, announced on Sunday, will ask the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to assess whether newly announced US sanctions against Huawei could make continued use of the company’s technology unworkable in the UK.
A government spokesman said: “Following the US announcement of additional sanctions against Huawei, the NCSC is looking carefully at any impact they could have to the UK’s networks.”
The review is expected to underpin a reversal of the previous policy that allowed Huawei equipment in parts of the UK’s 5G networks and to head off criticism from MPs who publicly opposed that decision.
The shift is said to be driven in part by frustration over China’s lack of transparency during the coronavirus outbreak and growing concern across Westminster about Chinese investment.
In February, after a multi-year security review, the UK government announced it would permit Huawei equipment in national 5G networks under strict limitations.
Those conditions barred Huawei from supplying core network components, limited the vendor’s share to no more than 35 percent of any operator’s Radio Access Network, and prevented Huawei gear being used near military, nuclear or other critical sites.
Huawei welcomed that earlier decision, but it drew criticism from various quarters.
Before the UK announced its February stance, US intelligence officials provided British counterparts with a dossier outlining perceived security risks of allowing Huawei equipment in sensitive networks.
Tensions around the decision were evident at the highest levels: President Trump reportedly ended a call with Prime Minister Johnson in anger earlier this year, and Johnson cancelled planned summer visits to the US as talks toward a post-Brexit trade deal were affected.
Members of Johnson’s own party also voiced concern. Conservative MP Bob Seely warned that Huawei “to all intents and purposes [is] part of the Chinese state,” arguing that involving the company could give China and its agencies access to UK networks.
Seely noted on social media that there are “now 59 MPs” in the Conservative Huawei Interest Group, including former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a number he said would be sufficient to block the earlier plan permitting Huawei equipment to account for up to 35 percent of the UK’s 5G infrastructure.
Security organisations have also raised alarms. In February 2019, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a long-established think tank focused on defence and security, warned about risks associated with Huawei equipment, observing that it is easier to insert a covert backdoor into a system than to detect one.
The UK’s Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) reported in 2018 that it could no longer provide assurance that risks from Huawei components could be fully mitigated, citing shortcomings in Huawei’s engineering processes. The report highlighted technical obstacles limiting security researchers’ ability to review internal product code and flagged concerns about components sourced from third-party suppliers.
A follow-up HCSEC report in March 2019 criticised Huawei for slow progress in addressing those issues, stating that no material remediation had been made and that it was therefore inappropriate to change the existing level of assurance or speculate about future improvements.
Human rights groups also challenged the government’s earlier decision. Earlier this month, lawyers for two Uyghur activists warned they would consider legal action if the UK proceeded with plans to grant Huawei a role in national 5G networks, arguing the decision could breach UK human rights obligations and EU procurement rules.
The activists campaign against Beijing’s treatment of Muslim minorities, particularly in Xinjiang, where reports indicate large numbers of people have been detained in so-called “re-education centres” with widespread allegations of human rights abuses, including forced separation of families and harsh interrogation methods. Authorities in the region are also reported to use intrusive surveillance technologies, including advanced facial recognition.
A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified Huawei among numerous brands linked to factories that reportedly used workers transferred from Xinjiang’s re-education programmes.
World events and geopolitical dynamics can shift rapidly. In the space of a few months, developments—including new US sanctions, domestic political pressure and human rights concerns—appear to have convinced the UK government that retaining Huawei in its national 5G infrastructure is no longer a viable option.