U.S. lawmakers warn Canada to keep Huawei out of its 5G plans โ€“ TechCrunch

What happened: US senators have sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advocating for the exclusion of Huawei from the countryโ€™s 5G plans. The lawmakers warned Trudeau to โ€œreconsider Huaweiโ€™s inclusion in any aspect of Canadaโ€™s 5G development, introduction, and maintenance,โ€ due to security concerns and links to the Chinese government.

Why itโ€™s important: Last month, the head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Securityโ€”the federal agency tasked with addressing cyber threatsโ€”dismissed claims that Huawei posed a threat to the countryโ€™s national security. However, the US recently signed off on a new law that prohibits government agencies from using Huawei and ZTEโ€™s services and hardware. Australia has also moved to block the companies from its own 5G deployment. US lawmakers warn that by making use of infrastructure built by companies close to the Chinese government, countries that make up the โ€œFive Eyesโ€ intelligence-sharing networkโ€”the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealandโ€”could be giving a foreign power access that they otherwise would not have had.

Christopher Udemans is TechNode's former Shanghai-based data and graphics reporter. He covered Chinese artificial intelligence, mobility, cleantech, and cybersecurity.

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