In an appearance on Fox News, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged Canada and western countries to exclude Huawei from their development of the 5G network standard.
“When I was in government, we were increasingly concerned about the penetration of Huawei and ZTE into Western democratic telecommunications networks. These are organizations ultimately tightly tied to Chinese security apparatus, and we think that there are serious issues there. I obviously note that the United States is encouraging western allies to essentially push Huawei out of the emerging 5G network, and my personal view is that that is what western countries should be doing in terms of our own long-term security issues.”
Huawei is one of Canada’s prominent partners in developing its 5G network standard. Its research partners include the University of British Colombia and the University of Toronto.
The comment adds another oil drop to the house fire Huawei has been facing recently. Its smartphones were recently banned in the US government over security concerns. Major carriers soon followed suit by unlisting Huawei devices from their device offerings.
While other U.S. allies Australia and New Zealand have banned Huawei from working with telecommunications firms, Canada has not made that move.
On Dec. 1, Canada arrested Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou. The RCMP arrested Meng at the Vancouver international airport on Saturday under its extradition treaty with the U.S. Meng is suspected to have participated in violating a U.S. trade sanction against Iran, The Globe and Mail reported.
Huawei is an important asset to the Chinese economy. According to Forbes List, Huawei is currently the second-biggest smartphone seller and the 79th most-valued company in the world. It employs 180,000 workers and generates $85.9 billion in sales annually.
In a press conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the arrest isn’t politically directed. Trudeau states that he hasn’t been speaking to the Chinese.
“There’s no engagement and involvement in the political level in this decision because we respect the independence of our traditional processes”, said the Prime Minister.
China claims that Meng’s arrest violates human rights and insists that it’s unaware of any wrong-doing from Huawei. Huawei itself posted a tweet calling for a just conclusion and says it complies with all international trade laws.
— Huawei (@Huawei) December 6, 2018
Meng was granted a temporary publication ban to prevent the release of information regarding her case. The ban lifted before her hearing in Vancouver.
The Toronto Star reports that in her official hearing at the Vancouver supreme court today, Wang was accused to allow Huawei to operate SkyCom as a shell company in Iran, violating US trade sanction on the country. The result of her hearing will determine whether she’ll be extradited to the U.S.