German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservatives along with the Democrats have decided to hold off on their decision on Germany’s 5G security concerns that decide Huawei’s future in the country till 2020. Merkel’s administration is under heightened pressure from multiple factions both domestic and foreign, to ban Huawei from supplying 5G equipment. While the domestic complaint is regarding the government’s unjust affinity towards Chinese technology suppliers, the US govt. wants its allies to boycott Huawei amidst concerns of national security.
The Social Democrat lawmakers backed an internal proposal on Tuesday, which if accepted by the govt. could result in Huawei being banned from conducting business on German soil. However, the lawmakers confirmed that their goal was to reach a decision together with Merkel’s government. “I think we will arrive at a decision by January once we have a decisive blueprint of our future course of action,” said Social Democrat Jens Zimmermann.
The Merkel administration finalized the rules regarding Germany’s 5G mobile network implementation back in October, which is being criticized for favoring Huawei. Merkel’s lawmakers have failed to find common ground regarding the issue. While Hawks oppose the Chancellor’s careful approach, Moderators eager to prevent a direct rivalry between two factions of the government suggest that stringent security measures should apply only to the core group.
The Moderates in their statement have specified that no single network company should be able to control more than 50% of the 5G equipment supply chain. The rules are more stringent towards non-EU suppliers. However, most German operators today use Huawei’s equipment and warn that banning the company would postpone 5G implementation by a few years apart from causing financial losses worth billions of dollars.
One of the primary factors for concern is whether the strict rules should apply solely to the core 5G suppliers or include peripheral parts. While the Social Democrats want constitutional supervision on both core component suppliers and parts vendors, the US government clearly states that Huawei equipment has back doors that enable the Chinese government to spy on other nations.
Both Huawei and the Chinese government have spoken out separately against the allegations in the past. While Huawei has vehemently denied the allegation, the Chinese government said that Huawei is under no legal obligation to spy on its foreign clients. The Trump administration banned Huawei from conducting business on American soil back in May 2019, raising questions over how long the Chinese tech giants can hold their lead in the market.
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