Diplomatic relations between Canada and China will never be the same again with the banning of Huawei and ZTE from the country’s telecommunications systems. This decision, inevitable, comes after three years of dithering, so much so that we no longer believe in the will to act of the Liberals.
The Trudeau government finally decided on Thursday. Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese-owned companies, will not be able to participate in the construction of fifth-generation (5G) wireless infrastructure in Canada. The decision, announced by Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, follows careful consideration by federal security and intelligence agencies and consultations with Canada’s key allies. , including the United States. The members of the “Five Eyes” group, of which Canada is a part, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, had all made it known that Huawei was persona non grata in their wireless networks. Only Canada was still lagging behind.
Although it took a long time, the Trudeau government made a wise decision given the risks that Huawei and ZTE pose to the security of the Canadian 5G network. China’s national security law gives authorities the power to force Chinese giants to participate in intelligence-gathering efforts. Huawei’s 5G could have contained a backdoor allowing agents of the Xi Jinping regime to snoop around mobile phones and any device or object connected to the wireless network.
This large-scale cyber espionage scenario, denied by Huawei and Xi’s government, is nothing short of fiction. Many experts, including former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Richard Fadden and former CSIS agent Michel Juneau-Katsuya, have expressed their deep concern about the permeability of Huawei and ZTE to the influence of Beijing.
This closeness could not be more evident during the arrest, on Canadian soil, of the financial director of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou. The reprisals were severe. Beijing literally took hostage two Canadian businessmen, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were arrested and imprisoned in China for almost three years. They regained their freedom a few days after Canada released Meng Wanzhou.
Hopefully the Trudeau government has prepared well for the risk of retaliation, as China is already denouncing what it perceives as “political manipulation” by Ottawa. It reserves the right to take all necessary measures to defend the rights and interests of Chinese companies, evoking in passing, oh gentle irony, a principle dear to liberal democracies: the market economy and free trade.
Nationally, the two Canadian telecommunications giants, Bell and Telus, are feeling the pinch. They already have Huawei components in their cellular infrastructure. The two companies are pressuring Ottawa to obtain compensation for the withdrawal of the equipment, required in two stages by 2024 and 2027. Minister Champagne has already said no to these requests for compensation.
For the time being, the Trudeau government refuses to predict the repercussions of its decision in its diplomatic relations with China, already weakened by the Meng Wanzhou affair and the conflict in Ukraine, in which China surreptitiously ranks in the Russian camp. By rallying to the “Five Eyes” position, Canada is at least giving itself the chance to be part of a united front against China’s ambitions to shape the Internet of tomorrow.
The Trudeau government promises to introduce a broader legislative framework to ensure infrastructure security in the telecommunications, finance, energy and transportation sectors. It will have to act with speed and determination on this front. In wanting to contain the real risk posed by Huawei and ZTE, Canada has set the stage for escalating diplomatic and trade tensions with China. Managing Canada’s national security and supply chain risk just got more complex.