Britain Bows to Anti-Huawei Operations

July 14, 2020 (EIRNS)—British Digital Minister Oliver Dowden announced today that the country would be phasing out all Huawei 5G equipment by 2027, and forbid the purchase of any new Huawei 5G equipment after the end of this year (presumably to allow existing contracts to go forward). This marks a serious capitulation by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has stood firmly against pressure from the U.S. and has insisted Huawei had a part to play in the country’s 5G network. A large faction of Tories in the Parliament have opposed him on this, while “ex” MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his Orbis Business Intelligence put out a new “dodgy dossier” last week full of totally undocumented lies about Huawei bribing and manipulating people, and his old MI6 boss Richard Dearlove gave two speeches about the evils of China and Huawei. Cumulatively it appears to have worked.

Huawei U.K. spokesman Ed Brewster said, “Regrettably our future in the U.K. has become politicized, this is about U.S. trade policy and not security.” British telecom companies have warned that stripping out all existing Huawei equipment could cost them billions and take years to implement. Today’s announcement does not cover the older 3G and 4G networks because their equipment is not impacted by the U.S. sanctions.