Canada bans Huawei / ZTE 5G equipment and joins Five Eyes ally

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Ottawa — Canada said Thursday that it plans to ban the use of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp5G gear to protect national security and join the rest of the so-called Five Eyes Intelligence Sharing Network. rice field.

“We intend to exclude Huawei and ZTE from the 5G network,” François Philippe Champagne, Minister of Industry, told reporters in Ottawa. “Providers who have already installed this device should discontinue and remove it based on the plans announced today.”

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Champagne added that companies will need to remove 5G gear by June 2024 and no refunds will be given. Companies using 4G equipment should be removed by the end of 2027.

The widely-anticipated decision was delayed in diplomatic tensions with China. The remaining Five Eyes network, consisting of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, has already banned equipment.

In September 2018, Canada first announced that it would consider potential threats to national security in the adoption of Huawei equipment.

Then, in December of the same year, Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a US warrant, causing a long-term dispute with China, and Meng Wanzhou was released last September.

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After Meng’s arrest, two Canadians were arrested in Beijing and charged with espionage. The two men were released on the same day as Meng.

Currently, diplomatic tensions between China and Canada have eased somewhat. On Wednesday, China lifted a three-year restriction on Canada’s rapeseed imports, overturning what was thought to be retaliation for Meng’s arrest.

Thursday’s decision will be made after the Canadian carrier has already chosen to use another company’s 5G hardware.

China has expressed opposition to this decision. “We will take all necessary steps to protect the legitimate interests of Chinese companies,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Canada accused Canada of working with the United States to suppress Chinese companies, as the alleged security concerns were “an excuse for political manipulation.”

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In an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Alykhan Velshi, vice president of corporate affairs at Huawei, Canada, said the company is still waiting to hear about “the types of national security threats Huawei believes pose.” rice field.

According to Velshi, Huawei still has 1,500 employees in Canada, is primarily R & D and sells products such as mobile phones, and will continue to do so.

ZTE did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

In 2020, Bel Canada and its rival Telus Corp – two of the largest wireless providers – will work with Ericsson of Sweden and Nokia Oyj of Finland to build a 5th generation (5G) communications network and use Huawei 4G gear. Despite doing so, I abandoned Huawei for the project.

In addition to the ban, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada would draft a new law to protect important financial, telecommunications, energy and transportation infrastructure from cyber threats. (Report by David Ljunggren, Additional Report by Ismail Shakil, David Kirton, Yew Lun Tian, ​​Written by Steve Scherer, Edited by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)