Last checked at 
By Andreas Rinke
BERLIN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Lawmakers from Chancellor Angela
Merkel's conservative party are set on Tuesday to back a
strategy paper that stops short of banning China's Huawei
from taking part in the rollout of Germany's 5G
network.
The move would rebuff U.S. President Donald Trump's calls on
Washington's allies to bar the Chinese telecoms giant from
next-generation networks after Britain stopped short of an
outright ban and the European Union backed a rules-based
approach.
Leading Christian Democrat lawmakers signed off on the
four-page paper on Monday evening after weeks of wrangling with
hardliners who sympathise with U.S. warnings that Huawei's gear
is not safe and it is beholden to Beijing. Huawei denies this.
The paper seeks instead to establish fundamental principles
undperpinning a risk-management approach.
"State actors with sufficient resources can infiltrate the
network of any equipment maker," it said. "Even with
comprehensive technical checks, security risks cannot be
eliminated completely - they can at best be minimised.
"At the same time, we are are not defenceless against
attempts to eavesdrop on 5G networks. The use of strong
cryptography and end-to-end encryption can secure
confidentiality in communication and the exchange of data."
Ironing out differences with a bloc of pro-American
lawmakers led by Norbert Roettgen, chairman of parliament's
foreign affairs committee, will be an important step towards
building a broader consensus in Merkel's coalition and across
party lines.
It will also be important for Germany to present a coherent
position at a security conference in Munich this weekend that
will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
HUAWEI DEPENDENCY
It would be costly and potentially risky for Germany,
Europe's largest economy, to exclude Huawei. Its three network
operators are all customers of the Chinese vendor and Berlin is
concerned that such a move might provoke trade retaliation by
Beijing.
With that in mind, the paper makes a clear distinction
between access, transport and core network that are especially
sensitive, thus allowing different handling of Huawei components
in the various parts of the 5G network.
The paper suggests using products from several companies to
avoid a "monoculture", and calls for the concept of
trustworthiness to be anchored proposed tweaks to Germany's
telecoms and IT security laws.
"Equipment makers can only be trusted if they verifiably
fulfil a clearly defined security catalogue that rules out any
influence from a foreign state on our 5G infrastructure," the
document says.
The draft would also give operators until 2025 to swap out
equipment from existing 4G networks that was supplied by vendors
who fail certification checks, a position that would mitigate
the cost to operators of ripping and replacing it.
The position paper also calls for Germany to push for a
wider European industrial policy to ensure that its own
companies can build all elements of international competitive an
secure 5G networks.
It pushed back against hostile foreign takeovers, in an
apparent reference to U.S. Attorney General William Barr's
recent call to invest in Swedish network equipment maker
Ericsson or Finland's Nokia to gain 5G
foothold.
Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm is due to meet Merkel on Thursday.
(Writing by Madeline Chambers and Douglas Busvine; Editing by
Angus MacSwan)
