China pushes Britain to let Huawei be part of 5G rollout – CNET

China wants Britain to let Huawei play a role in developing its 5G network, suggesting that it can’t let fear get in the way of “win-win cooperation.”

Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the UK, wrote about his country’s “good track record on security” in a Sunday Telegraph op-ed.

He suggested that Britain must resist pressure and decide “independently based on its national interests” — the US pressured its European allies not to adopt Huawei 5G equipment, saying it could be used to spy for China. Huawei denies such allegations.

It follows last week’s report that the scandal-laden Chinese telecom would be restricted to “noncore” parts of the next generation cellular infrastructure, which prompted the US Homeland Security Department and UK lawmakers to note that it could still pose security risks.

Lui acknowledged security risks must be taken seriously, but can’t “be allowed to incite fear” or hurt cooperation. He highlighted Huawei’s £2 billion ($2.6 billion) and 7,500-job contribution to the British economy as evidence of what they can achieve.

Responding to the op-ed, a UK government spokesperson repeated its statement from last week by noted that it’s conducting an “evidence based review.”

Neither Huawei didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

First published at 5:11 a.m. PT.
Updated at 5:29 a.m. PT: Adds UK government response.