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Why Australia banned Chinese tech giants from building its 5G network
InkStone ^ | 03/29/2019 | by Finbarr Bermingham

Posted on 03/29/2019 7:30:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Good friends are forever, except maybe when it comes to friendships between countries.

This is in part the thinking behind Australia’s move to ban two Chinese companies from building a next-generation telecommunications network in the country, according to the former Australian leader whose administration oversaw the ban.

Australia banned tech giants Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network as a “hedge against adverse contingencies” in case relations with China soured in the future, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in an interview with the South China Morning Post this week.

Turnbull, who was ousted as leader in August 2018, said that his government “decided not to allow 5G networks to be built out by companies that have an obligation to their own country to assist the intelligence services of those countries.”

“We have to, in an uncertain world, hedge against contingencies where people who we have friendly relations with, we may not necessarily be friends with in the future,” Turnbull said.

Huawei and ZTE were both banned from supplying 5G equipment to Australia’s wireless network in August on national security grounds.

With 5G set to provide the technological rails for societies of the future, several Western countries have expressed concerns that allowing Chinese firms to build the networks could act as a Trojan horse for espionage.

Under Chinese law, Chinese companies have an obligation to cooperate with the country’s intelligence services.

Huawei has denied that the law compels it to spy for China, and Beijing says Chinese companies must abide by local laws. But critics have argued that Chinese companies are not known to challenge orders to give up data to the authorities and that China’s legal system gives the ruling Communist Party extensive power over the judicial process.

Turnbull said that the decision, which was finalized under his leadership, was “absolutely no criticism of either company or their technology” but the reality of the pervasive nature of 5G technology and the volatility of geopolitics.

“I don’t think there is any country in the region including China that has hostile intent towards Australia,” said Turnbull. But he added that “there are a number of countries that have the capability – China is obviously one – to inflict adverse consequences on Australia.”

“If everyone thought everyone’s currently benign intent was going to remain the same, we’d all save a lot of money on national security.”

Along with Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, Australia is a member of the Five Eyes alliance, an intelligence-sharing grouping that can be traced back to the 1940s.

Australia and New Zealand have both already banned Huawei from their 5G networks, while the other alliance members are considering following suit under intense pressure from the US government.

The ban on Huawei and ZTE leaves only two companies in the world that can supply 5G equipment to the Australian network at scale: Nokia from Finland and Ericsson from Sweden.

Turnbull said it “beggars belief” that there is no Five Eyes vendor that can compete with those companies, saying that the alliance had been “asleep at the switch” to let such a strategic technology pass it by.

“I think that was a big oversight on the part of previous American administrations,” he said. “There is a lot of blame to go around frankly and that is something that has got to be addressed.”


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: 5g; australia; china

1 posted on 03/29/2019 7:30:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Japan had already printed the currency for “occupied Australia”

A 30-man IJA recon contingent DID land, albeit briefly and unopposed, on the Australian continent for a couple days; they were searching for an airfield they’d heard rumors about.

Japanese ambitions on Australia were cancelled by the outcome of the Battle for the Coral Sea.


2 posted on 03/29/2019 7:36:27 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: gaijin
When I was in Australia, I read the account of a Japanese spy that was arrested near the little town where I was staying, during World War II.

He had tapped into a telephone line in the rural area and had a radio transmitter.

3 posted on 03/29/2019 8:03:35 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Suddenly trade with Communists and slavemasters is uncool after all.

Psst! It just makes you a slave also.

American companies salivated getting access to the huge Chinese customer base. Hah. China screwed them over and demanded ownership.

Imagine buying an Apple computer at Best Buy but first demanding a share of their Apple stock and share of the Apple patents.

American Chamber of Commerce are real losers.


4 posted on 03/29/2019 9:15:26 PM PDT by TheNext (TINY WEB is Big Tech vs WHOLE WEB)
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