Australia has banned Chinese telecommunication companies from participating in the rollout of a new broadband network, in the latest demonstration of western concern about Chinese espionage.
Australia, one of the United States’ four closest allies for intelligence-sharing, barred any company “likely subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government” from participating in the burgeoning 5G network — the cutting edge of wireless technology. The decision drew charges of discrimination from China and applause from U.S. lawmakers who worry that the same Chinese tech companies could undermine U.S. national security.
“The government considers that the involvement of vendors who are likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law, may risk failure by the carrier to adequately protect a 5G network from unauthorized access or interference,” the Australian government said Thursday.
That’s a major blow to the Chinese telecommunications industry, which boasts nine of the world’s 12 largest smartphone suppliers. It’s aimed especially at Huawei and ZTE, two companies that U.S. officials have implicated in helping Chinese intelligence officials spy in the United States. The companies, as well as Beijing, deny those charges and maintain that the western companies are using scare-tactics to kneecap an economic competitor.
“The Australian side should know better than citing all sorts of excuses to erect artificial hurdles and enforce discriminatory measures,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during his regular press briefing. “We urge the Australian side to abandon its ideological bias and level the playing field for Chinese enterprises’ operation in Australia.”
Those denials are undercut by a recent update to Chinese law, however. “Any organization or citizen shall support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work according to law,” the Communist power’s recently-updated intelligence law states, as noted by the Australian Broadcasting Company.
Australia’s decision dovetails with efforts by some U.S. lawmakers and officials to restrict American exposure to the Chinese companies. The Federal Communications Commission is withdrawing subsidies that helped American companies purchase Chinese technology due to concerns about “hidden ‘back doors’ to our networks” that China’s spies might exploit. And Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced legislation in the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that would prohibit the federal government from using Huawei and ZTE.
“I commend Australia for this action, and now is the time for the United States to ban Chinese 5G technology,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., another China hawk, said Thursday. “We didn’t cede outer space to the Soviets, and it would be just as dangerous to let China take the lead in 5G technology.”
President Trump has resisted congressional efforts to ban the companies from the United States entirely, after imposing such a ban on ZTE as punishment for helping Iran and North Korea evade international sanctions. Trump eased that penalty, however, in the context of trade negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“ZTE should be put out of business,” Rubio said in July. “There is no ‘deal’ with a state-directed company that the Chinese government and Communist Party uses to spy and steal from us where Americans come out winning.”
