Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has sparked national security concerns after he was spotted taking selfie with a Huawei smartphone.
This comes at a time when the Chinese giant Huawei is at the centre of the argument whether using Huawei’s hardware is safe to use. This is because of the close relations of the company with China’s government.
Such concerns have also led to questions about allowing Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, to help build the UK’s internet infrastructure. Now, the person who endorsed such concerns is himself spotted using smartphone of the very same company.
Reports say that Boris Johnson used Huawei P20 smartphone for taking a selfie alongside ITV’s This Morning presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. However, a Conservative spokesman subsequently denied the phone was the Prime Minister’s.
As mentioned earlier, the use of the phone comes amidst heated debate around the company and allegations of its close links to the Chinese state. Critics have argued that Huawei’s telecoms equipment could be used to spy on people in the West, the claim which Huawei has always denied.
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United States, which has put Huawei on the “Entity List”, previously suggested that future co-operation with other members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership – the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – could be jeopardised if the Chinese company was given a role in the UK’s 5G infrastructure.
Boris Johnson had earlier said he would not compromise Britain’s national security over whether to give the telecoms firm a role in building the UK’s 5G network. He said: “On Huawei and 5G, I don’t want this country to be unnecessarily hostile to investment from overseas. On the other hand, we cannot prejudice our vital national security interests, nor can we prejudice our ability to co-operate with other Five Eyes security partners, and that will be how – that will be the key criterion that informs our decision about Huawei.”
The Chinese giant Huawei also remains the subject of a Government review into whether it should be allowed into “non-essential” parts of UK 5G infrastructure. That decision for the same is expected after the General Election.
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(Source)
