Huawei: national security is at stake, tech expert told Nigel Farage
27 January 2020, 20:24 | Updated: 27 January 2020, 20:38
This tech expert told Nigel Farage why the UK has to have a "very high level of caution" about entrusting Chinese tech giant Huawei to help build our 5G network.
"If Boris Johnson comes up with a typical political fudge compromise tomorrow that says Huawei will have part access to this but not full access to this, half in half out, does that actually work in your view?" asked Nigel.
Ian, who has worked alongside Huawei, said he didn't think so, "You need to be very clear about this. You've got national security at stake. I don't think any of us would want to take any risk with that."
Nigel agreed and pointed out that he believes the US's genuine security concerns and this is not an example of them trying to tout business.
Nigel quoted Tory MP Tom Tugendhat who vehemently opposes this deal: "The real cost will come later if we get this wrong and allow them to run 5G. Control of data is actually about sovereignty."
Sovereignty means control of data as much as land. We need to decide what we’re willing to invest in and who were willing to share our tech with. The real costs will come later if we get this wrong and allow Huawei to run 5G. https://t.co/Oc4y88KUvF
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) January 26, 2020
"I kind of think the establishment has sold out to China, Ian," said Nigel.
"I think so and the other part of this is that the high tech industry is littered with stories of working cooperatively with the Chinese and then finding out your intellectual property is copied and reinvented," said Ian.
"Suddenly your partner that you're working with is your competitor tomorrow. So I think we need to have a very high level of caution about entrusting really core and critical confidential and national data."
