London, June 13: Chinese ambassador to London Liu Xiaoming has on Thursday warned if United Kingdom (UK) bans telecom giant Huawei technology from developing the next-generation 5G network then it will try to hurt the Chinese investment and trade cooperation with the British government.
According to Reuters news reports, envoy Xiaoming told the BBC, “It will send a very bad message not only to Huawei but also to Chinese businesses. He added saying banning Huawei in the region would directly lead to “bad effects not only on trade but also on investment”.
Britain’s national security council which is chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, held a meeting in April to discuss Huawei and concluded a decision to block Huawei from developing the 5G network but to provide it some restricted access to the non-core parts.
The decision by senior minister of the British cabinet was due to take place in recent weeks but the British PM’s vow to resign has stalled their process, according to sources.
Recently, alphabet Inc’s Google has cautioned if the United States administration makes steps towards extending ban over China’s telecommunication giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, it would risk compromising its national security, according to the Financial Times reports on June 7.
Google’s move has come in the midst of tension escalation between the world’s two largest economies, who ratcheted up tariffs threats in a spat over what the American officials call Beijing’s unfair trade practices.
While the US sanctions are completely expected to hurt Huawei in a short-term period, but industry experts have said it could also force the firm, including other Chinese companies too, to become independently self-reliant by owning its development – developing additional home-grom technologies – hurting the US companies dominance like Google in a longer term.
In particular, Google was concerned the US-China conflict would unable Google to update its new Android operating system version on Huawei’s smartphones, which led an argument from Google that it would directly prompt Huawei to develop its own copy of the software, the FT reported with citing people who were briefed over Google’s efforts.