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By Jack Stubbs and Paul Sandle
LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson on
Tuesday granted China's Huawei a limited role in Britain's
future 5G mobile network, a choice that risks damaging relations
with the United States which fears China could use the company
to steal Western secrets.
In the biggest test of his post-Brexit foreign policy to
date, Johnson ruled that "high-risk vendors" would be excluded
from the sensitive core of networks, and there would a 35% cap
on their involvement in the non-sensitive parts.
While the British government did not mention Huawei by name,
a statement from its communications ministry said "high-risk
vendors" would be excluded from all critical networks and
sensitive locations such as nuclear sites and military bases.
"This is a UK-specific solution for UK-specific reasons and
the decision deals with the challenges we face right now,"
Communications Secretary Nicky Morgan said following a meeting
of the National Security Council chaired by Johnson.
The decision will dismay President Donald Trump's
administration which fears China could use Huawei to steal
secrets and which has warned that if London gives Huawei a role
then it could scale back intelligence cooperation.
Huawei, though, was happy.
"Huawei is reassured by the UK government’s confirmation
that we can continue working with our customers to keep the 5G
roll-out on track," said Victor Zhang, Vice-President, Huawei.
"This evidence-based decision will result in a more
advanced, more secure and more cost-effective telecoms
infrastructure that is fit for the future. It gives the UK
access to world-leading technology and ensures a competitive
market."
(Reporting by Jack Stubbs, Luke Baker, Kylie MacLellan and Paul
Sandle; Editing by Timothy Heritage/Guy Faulconbridge/Alexander
Smith)
