* UK risks Trump's ire by giving Huawei role in 5G
* Washington had warned Johnson against doing so
* China's Huawei welcomes British 5G decision
(Adds further reaction)
By Jack Stubbs and Paul Sandle
LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson
granted Huawei a limited role in Britain's 5G mobile
network on Tuesday, resisting U.S. pressure to exclude the
Chinese company from next generation communications over fears
Beijing could use them to spy.
Britain had to weigh its "special relationship" with the
United States against Chinese trade and investment ties which it
wants to develop after leaving the European Union.
Johnson, in the biggest test of his post-Brexit foreign
policy to date, ruled that "high-risk vendors" would be allowed
into the "non-sensitive" parts of 5G networks.
However, their involvement will be capped at 35%, they will
be excluded from the sensitive core, where data is processed,
and they will be banned from all critical networks and locations
such as nuclear sites and military bases, the government said.
The decision will dismay President Donald Trump's
administration which fears China could use Huawei to access
Western communications. It warned London that giving Huawei a
role would risk intelligence cooperation.
The White House and U.S. state department did not
immediately respond for a request to comment.
"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 telecoms industry has warned that banning Huawei would
cost it billions of dollars and delay the 5G roll out. Huawei's
equipment is already used by Britain's biggest telecoms
companies such as BT and Vodafone, but it has
been largely deployed at the edge of the network.
China's ambassador to London Liu Xiaoming said last year
that a block on Huawei would hurt Chinese trade and investment
in Britain, telling the BBC it would "send a very bad message
not only to Huawei but also to Chinese businesses".
Huawei was not mentioned by name in the British government's
statement, but British cyber security officials said they had
always treated the company as a "high risk" vendor.
Huawei said it was reassured by the UK government's
confirmation that it could continue working with its customers
to keep the 5G roll-out on track.
"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," Huawei vice president Victor Zhang said.
CALCULATED COMPROMISE
A U.S. official involved in talks with the UK said the
limitations were a positive step, but didn't go far enough.
"The concern is that they still want to allow Huawei into
the computer that's happening in so-called periphery, that is
just unacceptable," the official said.
"It's a computing device, so shouldn't be supplied by
Huawei. There's the potential for all sorts of nefarious
activity there."
Sources told Reuters last week that senior British officials
had proposed granting Huawei a limited 5G role, a "calculated
compromise" which could be presented as a tough restriction to
Washington, while accepted by British operators.
Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment,
has said the United States wanted to frustrate its growth
because no U.S. company could offer the same range of technology
at a competitive price.
The United States has argued that the distinction between
"edge" and "core" will blur as data is processed throughout 5G
networks, making it difficult to contain any security risks.
British cyber security officials said they had put special
measures in place to mitigate any risks.
"We've never 'trusted' Huawei and the (measures) you can see
… exist because we treat them differently to other vendors,"
Britain National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the GCHQ
signals intelligence agency, said in a technical post.
The NCSC said the notion that there was no way to separate
core and edge parts of the 5G network "remained untrue".
(Reporting by Jack Stubbs, Luke Baker, Kylie MacLellan and Paul
Sandle; Editing by Jon Boyle and Alexander Smith)
Vodafone (VOD)
BT (BT.A)
