Hi Peter,
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/huawei-and-the-cameron-connection/
I began to wonder who were the other players in the UK 5G competition.
It was a discussion topic on BBC 1's _This Week_ on Thursday, with
Tim Marshall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Marshall_(journalist),
interviewed by Andrew Neil. Here's the interesting bits from the
subtitles.
TM: China seeks to dominate us, to dominate everyone. Of course, it's
not the first time a country has tried to do this. The United States
and Russia carved up the globe during the Cold War, the British Empire.
They're flexing their muscles in a manner well suited to the modern
globalised world, economic control. But Beijing competes for domination
with Washington, and that asks a question of others - whose side are you
on?
TM: In the last five years, we have seen China's Belt and Road
Initiative develop, a $1 trillion package, developing construction
projects in more than 60 countries. So, good for those countries? Not
entirely. China is accused of debt-trap diplomacy, extending excessive
credit to countries such as Sri Lanka - in that case, for a port - only
to see the countries default - at which point, China says, nice port,
we'll take it for a naval base, thank you.
TM: China is also determined to dominate the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, technology and AI, but so is the United States and this is
at the heart of Trump's trade war with China, which in turn could lead
to a global trade war. As the Huawei row shows, we are likely to have
to choose between the superpowers.
TM: If we use Chinese technology in our 5G networks, the Americans may
not share intelligence. Sure, in general, we can trade with both
powers, but there's no pick and mix on security and infrastructure.
Also, if the Americans call in a trade favour, do we say, sorry, we
prefer "Made in China"? That's the backdrop to the Gavin Williamson
sacking. Whoever leaked wanted the decision favouring China reversed.
TM: So, who do we ally with - our flawed ally or a dictatorship with an
appalling human rights record? It's not as simple as, well, whichever
gives us the best deal.
AN: Given China's record, when it comes to industrial espionage,
cybercrime, theft of intellectual property on a grand scale, would any
British government be right to ignore US warnings about Huawei?
TM: On a personal note, I'd say absolutely not, and even if the science
is ambiguous, why would you take that risk..? Can you imagine in the
1970s in a similar situation that the British government would have said
to the Russians, Oh, do come into our critical infrastructure and help
us build it. It is inconceivable.
AN: It's not just America. Australia and New Zealand have also
expressed serious concerns, and they say they will not deal with Huawei
on 5G. That's three out of the famous intelligence gatherers, in which
we are crucial partners. That cannot be ignored.
AN: This isn't just Huawei that's involved. The US Trade
Representative, and this was a previous administration, Mr Obama's, they
calculate that $300 billion of technology and intellectual property
rights is stolen every year by China. The foreign companies that set up
in China are forced to hand over their technology and IP as the price of
doing business, and China's 2017 national intelligence law encourages,
indeed, some read it, depending on the translation, mandates Chinese
expats to become industrial spies. Surely the scandal of this goes way
beyond Huawei! The scandal is that the West has done almost nothing
since China entered the WTO in 2000 to counter this.
TM: I agree with all of that... This isn't about trade, it's about
foreign policy, and the things you said are true. I've looked,
obviously in translation, at the laws in China, but also Huawei and all
the other big companies, by law, must allow China to look straight into
their computers at any point that they want. Whereas, of course, the
Americans can't even get into Facebook.
TM: So why are we putting that at risk? The idea that they wouldn't
build [in backdoors is like assuming Russia wouldn't bug the Moscow
building given to the USA for an embassy]. ...but you're right, Huawei
is now the buzzword for a much bigger issue about where you put your
weight. We have to trade with both countries... and clearly you do that
with the Americans. Don't even have to like them, but you put your
weight there.
TM: Why do you think [China] invest so heavily in Hollywood? Have you
seen a film, in the last five years, that has had an evil threatening
China or Chinese person in it? No. Because if you are 30% into a
Hollywood film company...
AN: That is why Sony bought into Hollywood because it was making movies
about the evil Japanese until Sony moved in...
AN: One thing that does not get any coverage here, if we look at
President Xi's Made in China 2025, which is a road map for his
totalitarian organisation, what it says is that China must become
dominant in all the technologies that will matter, artificial
intelligence, electric vehicles, jet engines, nuclear power, by whatever
means possible and we will dominate these technologies behind a
mercantilist wall and until Mr Trump came along, the Americans in
particular just accepted that was the way of the world.
AN: The British should not just see this as some kind of whim of Trump,
of course his language is often outrageous and he makes it tougher than
it needs be. I have just come back from the US and the Democratic
Congress is even more militant about this than the White House. Getting
tough on China on business is now the new DC consensus. Britain better
understand what is going on here, this does not go if Trump does not win
the White House.
TM: I will give you an example, if you look at the new Nafta agreement
between the US, Canada and Mexico, built into it, it has not been
ratified yet, but built into it is that you do not do favourable trade
deals on security matters with China. They have built it into that and
Canada and Mexico have signed up to it.
TM: I think people let their visceral dislike of Trump get in the way of
clarity of understanding a much bigger issue... I will leave you with
this thought, the Chinese are busy locking up 1 million Muslim Uighurs
in re-education camps. 1 million people and most people are relatively
silent, the Arab world, the Muslim world is relatively silent about this
because they are also worried about trade deals. Are we really going to
put our weight on our future policy towards that.
TM: America is flawed and has all sorts of human rights issues, but you
are forced to choose when there are two superpowers.
