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2019-10-15 Europe
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Merkel opens 5G network for Huawei, waives a ban on Chinese mobile phone technology (translation of German)
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[Spiegel] At the insistence of the Chancellery, Berlin waives a ban on Chinese mobile phone technology. Coalition politicians criticize the decision.
Berlin, Düsseldorf. Representatives of the federal government had been debating for months, now the decision has been made: The Chinese network supplier Huawei is allowed to supply components for the entire German 5G network. According to the Handelsblatt, this is the result of the current draft on the security requirements for the telecommunications networks of the Federal Network Agency.
The resolution is to be published in the next few days. An initially discussed clause that would block Huawei's access to the market is not included in the paper.
Continued from Page 3
According to unanimous reports from the departments involved, an intervention by the Chancellery prevented a stricter version of the requirements. Chancellor Angela Merkel feared a dispute with China, government circles said. Merkel has therefore ignored the warnings of the US government, which considers Huawei an uncontrollable risk.
Seldom has the phrasing of an administrative regulation triggered such a controversial debate. Just a year ago, only experts were interested in the rules for the mobile network. Now they are a political issue and occupy half the federal cabinet. The USA is getting involved, as is the EU.
And of course the Chinese, after all, the debate is about Huawei. The Beijing leadership regards the technology group as an industrial crown jewel. Many in the West suspect that Huawei technology could become the gateway for Chinese espionage.
The US is urging its allies to abandon Chinese network technology. Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan have introduced restrictive clauses. The German government is taking a different course. In the next few days, the Federal Network Agency will publish the latest draft of the security regulations for the 5G network in order to consult it with companies and associations. At the end of this year or the beginning of next year, the regulations are to come into force.
According to Handelsblatt information, the draft states that network operators such as Telekom and Vodafone will identify the critical areas of their network architecture themselves. Only for these should a higher security level apply. This procedure is supposed to ensure that the number of critical key components is not too large and that the security check remains feasible. The security check itself is carried out by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), which certifies the products of the network suppliers.
When the Federal Government published the cornerstones of the regulations for the ultra-fast mobile network in spring, it promised "the highest security standards" and announced: "Systems may only be purchased from trustworthy suppliers". This clause has now been decisively weakened at the insistence of the Chancellery and the Ministry of Economics.
The weakened security provisions are met with harsh criticism in the government parties: "An issue of such strategic importance must not be decided at administrative level", explained Norbert Röttgen (CDU), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, to the Handelsblatt.
SPD foreign policy expert Nils Schmid said: "It is a serious mistake to integrate Huawei into the 5G network". Meanwhile, business is urging a hasty decision and demands that a decision be made. "The discussions lead to major uncertainties", Erik Ekudden, technical director of the European network supplier Ericsson, told the Handelsblatt. And those would be bad for the whole industry.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEEDS LEVERAGE
The federal government could have classified companies such as Huawei from countries where security agencies have far-reaching powers of intervention as untrustworthy per se. Instead, it now wants to content itself with demanding a declaration of trustworthiness from the manufacturers. Huawei will of course sign this. The question is what such declarations are worth.
The Federal Government's main concern is to have a legal remedy against companies like Huawei in its hands if one day it can be proven that their products have been used for espionage or sabotage. In this case, the federal government would oblige the providers to remove Huawei technology from the networks. The providers, in turn, could claim compensation from Huawei.
Until the end, the Americans had tried to persuade the federal government to ban Huawei. Ajit Pai, head of the US telecommunications authority FCC, had travelled to Berlin for this purpose in September. In vain. The warnings of the Federal Foreign Office and the risk analyses of the Federal Intelligence Service were also insufficient.
An important reason for this is that the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for public safety issues, such as the Ministry of Economics and the Chancellor's Office, preferred the technical solution, which is now to be announced. There are considerable doubts as to whether the risks in the 5G network can be controlled by technical means. 5G is heavily software-driven. Pai had recently told the Handelsblatt: "It's very hard to imagine that a government agency, no matter where, would be able to check every single update in real time to detect security risks."
The 5G debate is also a topic of concern for the EU. Last week Commissioner Julian King warned that buying 5G "is not like buying a car, but joining a club". The importance of technology for sectors such as energy, transport or industry makes the construction of 5G networks "an important national security issue". In a risk report, Brussels warns: "Hostile states could put pressure on 5G providers to allow cyber-attacks that serve their national interests.
Resistance against the government's decision is growing in the Bundestag, including within the coalition. Norbert Röttgen, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, calls for an "intensive parliamentary debate". For the CDU politician, one thing is certain: "There is no technical security on this issue, so trust is the decisive factor". According to Röttgen, Huawei is "largely state-controlled" and therefore not trustworthy.
Data protectors are also concerned: "The dependence of companies on other geopolitical actors is particularly problematic in the area of information technology, where abuse and manipulation are difficult to prevent," said Hamburg data protection officer Johannes Caspar. 
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