Theresa May is obviously under immense pressure trying to extricate Britain from this Brexit mess, but her decision to allow the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei to contribute to Britain's 5G rollout will seriously weaken the western alliance.
It is quite clear to the telecommunications experts in other countries that Huawei is technically able to eavesdrop on the communications passing through the 5G system if their advanced technology forms part of its layout. Huawei is a technical giant that is closely connected to the Chinese Communist party,.
An obvious outcome would be disruption to what is known as the "Five Eyes "exchange of intelligence information around the world. America, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand share very confidential information gleaned by their embassy structure and from their intelligence services. Should British communications be compromised, exchange of such information would no longer be shared with that country.
This Huawei threat is not confined to state security secrets. The commercial world uses the communication system to pass intellectual property information to their overseas branches and China chooses to ignore the protection given by patents or the sanctity of intellectual property as recognised in the rest of the world. China openly steals intellectual property and uses it to give its manufacturing companies an edge in export volumes.
It is evident that China is in an arms race to match the United States in sea power. It is fast building a blue water navy to compete with the United States navy and the obvious point of conflict will be the South China sea. The world court has rejected Chinas claim to territorial rights over this trade route and China has ignored that ruling and constructed artificial islands which are now fortified with airstrips and SAM batteries. China is becoming more strident in trying to close the passage to naval shipping from other countries.
Until now, the western world has chosen to bar Huawei from contributing to the 5G rollout. We are only beginning to understand the speed and diversity that 5G will bring to all aspects of modern living and the prospect of the Chinese Communist party having the ability to listen and interfere is both dangerous and frightening. The ultimate aim of China is very much an unknown factor.
This British decision on Huawei even brings the future of NATO into conjecture. For seventy years NATO has been instrumental in keeping the peace between major power blocks. The context that any attack on one is an attack on all has been the foundation stone of mutual defence. Whether a Britain with compromised communications could remain a part of NATO is a question that will soon be openly debated if that Huawei decision stands.
It is common wisdom that the strength of a chain depends entirely on its weakest link.. The strength of the British link is now an open question.
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