'5G for Five Eyes!' US senator tells Parliamentarians the world would be better without Huawei
- Reference: 1591171452
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/03/defence_committee_5g_huawei_tom_cotton_senator/
- Source link:
Speaking to a Parliamentary sub-committee dedicated to 5G and national security, Tom Cotton, an American senator (similar to an elected MP), immediately rowed back on his comments, but the thrust of his argument was clear: US intelligence sharing with the UK would be reduced if Huawei isn't deleted from the nation's mobile phone networks.
Cotton, who sits in the US Congress, told MPs: "Again, we would find a way to work around on the most urgent questions of sharing analysis, the imminent threat between our nations. But there's no doubt our intelligence agencies would face some challenges in being as open and sharing as much info for signals intelligence that they do now."
Huawei website ████ ██████ security flaws ██████ customer info and biz operations at risk: ███████ patched [1]READ MORE
The US senator is also the driving force behind a Congress bill that would ban the deployment of F-35 fighter jets and other advanced US military tech to the UK if it continues to use equipment from Huawei or any other country disliked by American leaders.
This, of course, is not the first or second time an American politician has made threats about Britain's stance on Huawei kit. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo weighed in back in [2]February 2019 , as did deputy assistant secretary at the US State Department Robert Strayer [3]last month .
Labour MP Kevan Jones asked Cotton whether he was making "a threat to change the policy" of the elected British government, to which the American angrily replied:
"Why are you so eager to put a criminal organisation's tech into your networks? I'm speaking, let me finish. Organisations whose technology is being used to repress [4]millions of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province , a serial sanctions violator, networks in Iran and Syria. Why would you be so eager to use this technology?"
Cotton hails from the US Republican political party, which put Donald Trump into power.
Jones shot back: "Senator, you have Huawei equipment in your 3G and 4G networks, are you going to rip that out?" To which Cotton replied yes, adding that US networks' usage of Huawei equipment was low compared to Britain.
On a slightly less heavy note, Mark Francois MP, butt of a thousand jokes (just search for him online), posed a real, er, poser of a question. He said to Cotton: "We have the tech and the nous to create a 5G system in the West if we had the will. Do you think that's something the US and UK, historically allies, could help to lead on, to create Five Eyes 5G?"
Five Eyes is the main Western espionage alliance, formed between the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. El Reg fears that explaining Nokia, Ericsson or [5]OpenRAN to Francois, or indeed most MPs, would be more trouble than it's worth.
Coton replied: "Yes, absolutely. Spread it beyond the UK, the [6]D10 of great democracies , the G7, of course throw in other European nations as well."
Victor Zhang, Huawei's UK manager, said in a canned statement responding to the proceedings: "Today's committee concentrated on America's desire for a home-grown 5G company that can 'match' or 'beat' Huawei. It's clear its market position, rather than security concerns, underpins America's attack on Huawei as the committee was given no evidence to substantiate security allegations. We welcome open and fair competition as it fosters innovation and drives down costs for everyone."
OpenRAN – as well as Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson's industrial progress – seem to be the West's only China-free future for 5G. As for Huawei, rumours keep on swirling but here in Britain they're going nowhere. At least, for now. ®
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2019/07/09/huawei_to_address_security_holes/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/21/no_intel_for_huawei/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2019/04/29/huawei_us_spat/
[4] https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-chilling-stories-from-inside-china-s-muslim-internment-camps
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/07/vodafone_trials_new_network_tech_in_uk/
[6] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/downing-street-plans-new-5g-club-of-democracies-bfnd5wj57
Re: "criminal organisations"
Or Facebook, which has been used for pushing people to genocidal acts ?
And I believe that that qualifies as defamation as well. What cheek.
American Intelligence
Might be an Oxymoron.
Or at least it seems so, if measured against the Head of States behaviour.
Do it! Chicken.
I'm betting that the proposition to restrict the sale of F35 is reaaally popular with the other part of the government which is trying to sell as many of the birds as possible... And that a lot of people in UK are hoping this will happen.
Re: Do it! Chicken.
I bet they won't give a refund on the F35s though, maybe a credit note with limitations.
Accusing China of breaking US sanctions against China and calling it criminal is absurd.
Re: Do it! Chicken.
So at a stroke, we could get: cheaper 5G, less intelligence sharing, and no F-35s?
What's the catch?
"Why are you so eager to let a criminal organisation's representative speak to a Parliamentary sub-committee? I'm speaking, let me finish. Organisations whose technology is being used to repress millions of their own people in their own country, a serial sanctions bully, a known network spy. Why would you be so eager to hear this man speak?"
Admission of Guilt?
"American spy agencies may reduce their "ability to share the most sensitive types of intelligence" with the UK if Huawei continues to be a major presence in British telcos' networks, a US senator warned Parliament."
I'm guessing that's because they can't hack Huawei.
It's also worrying that, in another news piece, he said the new F35 aircraft will be withheld from the UK as a 5G network using Huawei poses a security risk to them. If the latest aircraft are such an easy hacking target, I don't want them anywhere near our airspace.
Hysteria
That's the same Senator Tom Cotton who is keen to have the US military on the streets and show protesters 'no mercy?' What a psycho.
https://www.businessinsider.com/gops-tom-cotton-calls-for-military-force-against-anarchist-protesters-2020-6?r=US&IR=T
Icon: Armageddon it, coz Tom Cotton is not gettin' it .
Another nutjob hiding behind the flag
He's certainly all in on Trumpism - in the last week on twitter he's said military should be involved in quelling the protests and he's introduced a bill with another of the most stupid/right wing senators (Blackburn) to ban any Chinese national student receiving a visa to study STEM in US campus.
Scary thing is he's not fringe - looks to be gearing up for a 2024 run.
Wait? What? So America doesn’t have our best interests at heart after all? It wants to ride roughshod over what our elected Government wants to do? And this is better than what we had when in Europe, where we had a vote and we weren’t being pulled left and right and every which way in order to beg scraps from the big boys table?
Wake up! This is the real world of Brexit. So thanks any treasonous Brexiteers who read this. You really f’d us. You’ve done irreparable damage to this country - I hope you’re proud. And yes, I know that my language could be more considered. More polite. But America is descending into fascism, is undermining free-speech and sending the troops against peaceful protestors, all at the behest of a tin-pot dictator. And we’re supposed to attach our cart to that horse? F that S! Now is not the time to be nice. Now is the time to be angry. And if you aren’t angry, with Trump, with Cotton, with the Republican party and its enablers on both sides of the Atlantic, if you aren’t angry with Boris, with Farage, with Mogg, with the whole sorry racist shower then you are part of the problem.
/rant
Funny how individual privacy never comes up when politicians talk 5G.
"criminal organisations"
You mean like the CIA and the NSA?