Maajid Nawaz's caller says using Huawei for 5G is the same as eating Chinese food
8 February 2020, 13:51
This caller tried to claim that the UK using Huawei to build our 5G network is the same as going to a Chinese restaurant and Maajid Nawaz didn't let him get away with it.
Malcolm called in to explain the issues around using the controversial Chinese company to build our new mobile network from a technical perspective.
He insisted that involving Huawei is no worse than having a Huawei phone or router.
But as Maajid argued with him, saying that cabling under our streets is much more important than that, he took his argument to a whole new level, asking: "Do you eat in Chinese restaurants?"
Maajid responded: "Malcolm, come off it. Eat Chinese food? Are you genuinely calling up a national radio station to compare eating a dish to dependency on infrastructure, which includes cabling under our streets?
"35% of that entire new network, including cabling under the streets and telecoms poles... are you trying to tell me that the level of dependency that creates is the same as me eating a dish in a Chinese restaurant?"
After a long pause, Malcolm pressed on: "You're putting that food into your body and you're saying we shouldn't buy anything from China?"
Maajid then hit back and things got even more fractious.
Watch the call at the top of the page.
