Trust but verify was the Russian proverb that Ronald Reagan, former US president, invoked in talks with the former Soviet Union on nuclear dis-armament. It has also been the UK government’s approach to allowing British mobile networks to use equipment from Huawei, the Chinese telecoms manufacturer.
Trust is now under severe strain, thanks to a US campaign to stop Huawei having a role in next generation 5G networks — even if President Donald Trump took a more dovish tone last week. Australia has ruled out using Huawei in 5G and US allies including New Zealand have doubts about the security risks of using Chinese software in sensitive infrastructure.
Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder, has attacked the US campaign, calling the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer and his daughter, a “politically motivated act”. But a report from Britain’s Royal United Services Institute think-tank describes the use of equipment from Huawei rather than rivals such as Nokia and Ericsson as “at best naive, at worst irresponsible.”