More pressure to ban Huawei from UK's 5G network

New report claims Chinese vendor should be barred from all aspects of network, while Trump declares state of emergency over foreign telecoms firms

Pressure is mounting on the government to ban Huawei from the UK's 5G network after a former M16 boss said the vendor poses a threat, while US president Donald Trump has triggered a state of emergency over foreign telecoms firms.

The government has so far seemed to resist the US' demands for its allies to block Huawei from contributing to the construction of 5G infrastructure, with a leaked report claiming the vendor will be allowed to work in "non-core" parts of the network.

The US government, however, had already issued a blanket ban on government agencies using Huawei and has now extended the injunction.

Trump's executive order will ban US companies from buying Huawei technology, according to the Financial Times, and will also mean US firms have to obtain a licence to sell to the Chinese vendor. The publication reports that chips manufactured by US giant Qualcomm are an essential component of Huawei's products.

Meanwhile, a report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank claims that Huawei would pose a risk to the UK if it had any involvement in the 5G network.

The concerns around Huawei stem from its CEO's links to the Chinese government, and concerns that the government can compel any organisation to hand over data - claims that Huawei as vehemently denied.

Former M16 head Sir Richard Dearlove said in the report: "The People's Republic of China uses its sophisticated technical capabilities not only to control its own population (to an extreme and growing degree) but also to conduct remotely aggressive intelligence-gathering operations on a global scale.

"No part of the communist Chinese state is ultimately able to operate free of the control exercised by its Communist Party leadership.

"China's military strategists perceive a world in which the military and the civilian will be fused into a single plane of conflict. The ability to control communications and the data that flows through its channels will be the route to exercise power over societies and other nations."

The report claims that Huawei could harm the UK even if it is restricted to non-core parts of the network.

"The UK government says Huawei will be limited to ‘dumb' components like antennas, but our technical advisers have indicated that antennas can be modified at both the hardware and software level," it states.

Huawei has hit back at the US government and the report, declaring itself the "unparalleled leader in 5G development".

It claimed the report was politically motivated and "short on fact", saying it hopes that any decision as to whether Huawei can participate in the UK's 5G network will be "based on solid evidence".

Huawei added that the US ban will only "limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the US lagging behind in 5G deployment".