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* Merkel wants EU to coordinate its position on Huawei/5G
* She favours strict criteria, but opposes ban
* Merkel plans to host EU-China summit in H2, 2020
(Adds detail, background)
By Andreas Rinke
BERLIN, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel has
asked her conservative lawmakers to wait until after a March EU
summit before taking a position on whether China's Huawei
can take part in the rollout of Germany's 5G network,
sources involved in their talks said.
Merkel believes European Union coordination on the issue is
important and she has been unable to bridge differences within
her CDU/CSU bloc, the sources said on Monday.
Merkel's conservatives are divided on whether to support a
proposal by their Social Democrat (SPD) junior coalition
partners that, if approved, would effectively shut out the
Chinese technology giant from the network.
Merkel favours strict security requirements for the 5G
network, but opposes excluding individual companies.
In a meeting with a dozen CDU/CSU lawmakers last Thursday,
Merkel and chancellery chief Helge Braun argued against moving
toward isolationism in the current international environment.
The take-up of the technology is expected to be on the
agenda when EU leaders gather in Brussels in March.
Merkel is also planning an EU-China summit when Germany
takes the rotating EU presidency in the second half of this
year.
German operators are all customers of Huawei and have warned
that banning the Chinese vendor would add years of delays and
billions of dollars in costs to launching 5G networks.
The United States says gear provided by Huawei, the leading
telecoms equipment vendor with a global market share of 28%,
contains "back doors" that would enable China to spy on other
countries.
Shenzhen-based Huawei has denied allegations by the Trump
administration, which imposed export controls on Huawei in May,
hobbling its smartphone business and raising questions over
whether the Chinese company can maintain its market lead.
For an interactive graphic on 5G and security risks, see https://tmsnrt.rs/32tVdMI
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke;
Writing by Paul Carrel;
Editing by Joseph Nasr and Alison Williams)
