EU may tighten rules against China’s Huawai due to feared intel

The European Union’s digital affairs chief fears that Huawei Technologies Co. is providing intelligence to the Chinese government, he told The Yomiuri Shimbun in an interview.

Andrus Ansip, vice president of the European Commission, also said that the EU is considering plans to tighten regulations targeting Huawei and other companies.

During the interview, held on Jan. 18, Ansip said: “The new Chinese National Intelligence Law, in place since [June] 2017, has created a risk in relation to Huawei regarding possible backdoors” — malicious programs and microchips that enable remote access to information-communication devices.

Ansip mentioned the possibility of classified information being stolen, and warned that the member states “have to make complete assessments as thoroughly as they can.”

He said the EU would establish a certification scheme this spring for communications equipment, including next-generation 5G mobile network technology, and would raise awareness about the dangers of using certain products without knowledge of the risk involved. The United States, Britain and Japan have already excluded Huawei from their 5G plans, and the EU is expected to keep in step.

A sense of crisis about the Huawei suspicions has grown rapidly among EU nations since Polish authorities on Jan. 11 arrested a Chinese man working at Huawei’s local corporation, as well as a Polish telecom company employee, on suspicion of spying.

Polish Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski told local media that the EU must take unified actions against products manufactured by the leading Chinese telecommunications equipment maker. Countries such as the Netherlands and the Czech Republic are also moving to eliminate such products.

“I would like to say to those people who ask for solid evidence [about Huawai’s engagement in China’s spying activities]: It is too late when you have solid evidence that can be produced publicly,” Ansip said.