US 5G tactic fails to find favor with EU: China Daily editorial

Sense prevailed over calumny on Wednesday when the European Union decided not to impose a blanket ban on Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei in the rollout of next-generation wireless networks in Europe as demanded by the United States.

A set of guidelines published by the European Commission as part of a "toolbox" designed to safeguard network security required EU countries to "apply relevant restrictions for suppliers considered to be high risk" — such as leaving them out of "critical and sensitive" functions — but stopped short of barring specific suppliers altogether. "We're not picking on anybody," European Commissioner Thierry Breton said at a news conference. "We're not ostracizing firms."

The good news for Huawei came one day after the United Kingdom issued similar policies that exclude Huawei from "security critical" areas of networks but allow it to supply mobile operators with less sensitive products such as base stations, so long as its market share is limited to 35 percent.

Huawei has welcomed the EU's "non-biased and fact-based approach" toward 5G security.

Which has not come easily for the EU, or the UK, given the immense pressure Washington has exerted on its allies in a bid to strangle the Chinese company on national security grounds. The US has already threatened to limit intelligence-sharing with the UK in the event of Huawei playing any 5G role in the country.

But the US' witch hunt against Huawei has been so dependent on disinformation and outright lies that anyone taking an objective view of the matter will appreciate that its malicious misrepresentation of the Chinese company is a politically motivated move.

That Washington has so far not come up with any solid evidence to prove that Huawei poses a national security threat — after years of congressional hearings and hardware inspections — makes a total Huawei ban a hard decision for any government to make.

Especially as for many it would be self-harming. Many countries in Europe have already been using Huawei products and services for years, and bowing to Washington's will would mean they have to set their 5G roll-out back by years, and make massive amounts of additional infrastructure investment.

Cyber security agencies in both London and Brussels have found no threat from Huawei, which belies Washington's scare strategy that seeks to dent China's technological edge at all costs. History will prove that Europe has made a right decision as it stands at the crossroads to its technological future.