A UK government review into the impact of new US sanctions on Huawei will report back within weeks, officials have said, as they warned the curbs could have “very, very serious” implications for the Chinese company’s planned role in supplying 5G networks in Britain, reported the Financial Times.
The emergency review — which started just days after the US announced new export controls on Huawei last month — is being undertaken by the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of UK signals intelligence agency GCHQ.
The US sanctions and the UK review gives British prime minister Boris Johnson the opportunity to execute a U-turn on his contentious decision in January to grant Huawei a limited role as a supplier of telecoms equipment for the country’s 5G mobile phone networks.
Even though Johnson confined Huawei to a 5G market share of 35% in Britain, and excluded the company from providing equipment for the sensitive “core” of the networks, his decision has come under heavy fire from rebel Conservative MPs and the US government. They have argued the deal gives Beijing a backdoor to spy on UK communications.
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