UK shows it is still the faithful poodle

The UK government has decided to ban the purchase of new Huawei equipment for 5G from next year and all the company's gear is to be completely removed from the country's 5G networks by the end of 2027.

Compared with its past attitude of allowing Huawei to partially participate, the United Kingdom has doubtlessly made a U-turn this time. A very bad, unreasonable U-turn because it means discrimination against a Chinese company, a violation of market principles.

The UK government says it made the decision based on new advice from the National Cyber Security Centre assessing the impact of US sanctions against the telecommunications vendor, but actually it is political games by the UK and United States. Frankly speaking, by changing its policy the UK means to serve US trade policy.

It is a not-so-smart move.

First, the UK's technological development might suffer. According to Oliver Dowden, UK minister for digital, culture, media and sport, the UK's 5G network construction might be delayed for two to three years, causing a loss of up to 2 billion pounds ($2.51 billion).

Besides the money, the UK might lose priority in the global wave of 5G-based digitalization. That loss is beyond the measurement of money.

Second, UK residents might suffer. From 2012 to 2017 alone, Huawei's purchasing and investment in the UK supported over 26,000 jobs there. Now the UK has banned Huawei, who can compensate the local people in the UK for their lost jobs?

Third, the UK's global honor will suffer. The UK used to boast of its values of openness and fair market rules, but the move shows the hollowness of its claims. Telecom companies all over the world should worry: If they unfairly ban Huawei today, will they ban someone else tomorrow? Who will dare to do businesses with the UK in the future?

Fourth, it will hurt the Sino-UK relationship. China is already the UK's second-largest trade partner outside the European continent, and China's investment in the UK in the past five years exceeds the total of the 30 years before that. Why ruin that relationship?

Just as China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said, the incident is not something about one company or one industry alone, but a highly politicized issue, an issue about China's investment in the UK facing threat.

BEIJING YOUTH DAILY