By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The decision by some European Union countries to ban China’s Huawei and ZTE from their 5G telecoms networks is justified and in line with the bloc’s guidelines, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Thursday.
Breton has in recent weeks voiced concerns that some EU countries still have perceived high risk components in their 5G core network, citing intrusive third-country laws on national intelligence and data security – a veiled reference to China.
He has urged them to stick to EU guidelines adopted two years ago that call on member states to assess the risk profile of suppliers on a national or EU level, and restrict or ban high-risk 5G vendors from core parts of their telecoms networks.
“The Commission has just published a communication confirming that the decisions taken by certain member states to restrict or exclude completely Huawei and ZTE from their 5G networks are justified and in line with the toolbox,” Breton told a press conference.
He did not name the countries.
Breton said only 10 of the 27 EU countries had restricted or blocked high-risk vendors.
“This is too slow, and it poses a major security risk and exposes the Union’s collective security, since it creates a major dependency for the EU and serious vulnerabilities,” he said.
Huawei, ZTE and Beijing have strongly rejected Western allegations that the companies’ equipment might be used for spying.
(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Mark Potter)
