Under pressure from the United States engaged in a tug of war like a cold war with China, the british government announced on July 14, the exclusion of the chinese giant Huawei in the development of the new mobile telephony standard 5G. But in order to take account of companies of the telecom national need the 5G as soon as possible and in order not to inflame further the bilateral relations with Beijing, the operator will not be ruled out that from 2027, to the great displeasure of many members of the conservative majority.
The decision marks a hardening of London in relation to the path of appeasement chosen in January by the Prime minister, Boris Johnson, when the United Kingdom had given its green light to Huawei to participate in the launch of the network 5G uk by limiting the intervention to 35 % of the national network non-strategic. The secretary at the Foreign Office, Dominic Raab, was supposed to go in the course of the year to Beijing to prepare an official visit of the head of the british government.
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defiance vis-à-vis China since the sars coronavirus
But in the meantime, the bilateral relations have greatly deteriorated. The heavy balance sheet of the “Covid 19” the United Kingdom has révulsé the public, which holds Beijing responsible for not only the health crisis, but also of the serious economic recession to come. According to a recent survey, 83 % of the public does not trust China.
additionally, the legislation repressive to stifle the democratic opposition, hong Kong was perceived in London as a violation by China of the 1984 agreement for the return of the crown colony in 1997. The decision to offer british citizenship to the three million of hong Kong holders of the status of subjects of overseas has been deemed by Beijing as a ” rude interference in the internal affairs of China “.
Finally, Washington, who suspects Huawei of industrial espionage and not to be the armed arm of the communist Party of china, has put pressure on the Uk to exclude Huawei from the 5G. During his meeting Monday in Paris with his british counterpart, Mark Sedwill, the advisor to the national security of the United States, Robert O’brien, has demanded that London should show firmness.
Under us pressure
In the wake of this, London has proposed to its partners in the exchange of information ” Five Eyes “, which includes the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to make common cause to explore industrial solutions alternatives to Huawei in the folder of the ” 5G “. France, Italy, Germany, Japan, South Korea and India may complement the anti-Huawei.
political arguments with the approach of deadlines, difficult – Brexit, recession, official investigation into the malfunctions in the fight against the pandemic have outweighed the economic considerations. Boris Johnson feared a rebellion of many of the elected conservatives are openly hostile to Beijing. In addition, the possible infiltration of the royal family by chinese nationals associated with Beijing concerned that many members of the right.
The tenant of 10 Downing Street has resisted the activism of the powerful business lobby pro-Beijing to rank behind the administration Trump. This upper room comprises, in particular, telephone operators british led by Vodafone and BT arguing that a ban could lead to network outages, and to claims for compensation for the credits allocated to the partnership with Huawei.
A risk of rebellion parliamentary
adds the City, which aims to become the springboard for the internationalisation of the chinese currency, the yuan, as evidenced by the support of Beijing overseas banks HSBC and Standard Chartered, which were very active in hong Kong. Not to mention industrialists in the nuclear concerned about the effect of these bisbilles on the tripartite agreement between France, China and the United Kingdom concerning the funding of future power stations of Hinkley Point, and sizewell b provided by the chinese CGN.
Faced with the risk of rebellion of the parliamentarians, the front pro-chinese has not been able to help Huawei. The offensive in favour of the manufacturer from Shenzhen has been led by the former Prime minister, David Cameron, at the head of an investment fund in chinese. Among its supporters is its former chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, the architect of the agreement, anglo-chinese year 2015, now director of the london newspaper the Evening Standard. It is the same group of press Murdoch because of the enormous interest that has its american owner in the Empire of the Middle.
the approach To the Brexit
This lobby has been able to count on the support of the brexiteurs pure and hard as the Uk in theory should leave the european Union at 31 December. In their eyes, the industry is chinese constitutes the spearhead of the new future global of the United Kingdom after the release of the mooring lines. In vain…
One thing is clear, launched with great fanfare five years ago by David Cameron and by president Xi Jingping, the golden age of the relations of the anglo-chinese is beautiful and well done. For the United Kingdom, the negative economic impact of the exclusion of Huawei are likely to be considerable. China is currently the third largest export market of the United Kingdom weighing more than 80 billion pounds (or 88.1 billion) in 2019.
As indicated by Jagjit Chadha, director of the centre for studies in london National Institute of Economic and Social Research : “While the deadline for the exit of the european Union is getting closer, as the United Kingdom strives to turn the page of the crisis of the sars coronavirus, the question is crucial : what kind of economic relationship you want to build with the second largest economy in the world ? “
