UK's justification technically desperate: China Daily editorial

It is a shame that the United Kingdom has eventually acquiesced to the United States' demand that it not use any equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in its 5G networks.

In a policy U-turn, the UK government announced on Tuesday that it will completely remove Huawei's equipment from the country's next-generation network by the end of 2027.

Although it claims this was "a technical decision to make sure we have high quality", the US president let the cat out of the bag when he said, "If they want to do business with us, they can't use it".

Despite Washington repeatedly accusing the Chinese company of spying on its users on behalf of the Chinese government, it has never provided any substantial evidence that supports this spurious claim. Huawei has operated in the UK for 20 years and become an integral part of the country's telecommunications infrastructure. Even the UK's cybersecurity agency, the National Cyber Security Centre, said in January that any risks involved in using Huawei equipment would be manageable. That had prompted the UK to previously approve Huawei's gear to be used in its 5G infrastructure with certain limitations — blocking it only from "core" and sensitive parts of the system.

It is estimated that the decision to ban Huawei's equipment will cost the UK up to 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion), which it will have to bear all by itself. It will also delay the country's 5G rollout by two to three years, thus shifting the UK into "the digital slow lane".

Which means the UK government, lurching from pratfall to pratfall in a pandemic pantomime that would be farcical if it wasn't so tragic, and unable to agree a deal with the European Union on the terms it wants, has bet everything on a trade deal with its brother in arms. No wonder it has succumbed to being an accomplice aiding the US' global attempt to strangle the Chinese company.

The US has adopted all possible means, no matter how despicable they are, to prevent China gaining a technological edge globally, especially in 5G.

The ramifications will likely go far beyond the telecom sector. The relationship with China — the UK's second-largest non-European Union trade partner after the US — will inevitably sour as a result because it undermines the foundation of mutual trust for cooperation. China will no doubt take corresponding retaliatory actions in response to the UK's suppression of Huawei as the US' accomplice.

But that is what the UK government has to face because of its folly in blindly toeing the line of the US and ignoring the market rules it has always trumpeted.