Britain is stepping up efforts to persuade its “Five Eyes” security partners and other allies to collaborate on finding industrial alternatives to Huawei as a 5G supplier, ahead of its expected decision this week to curb the Chinese company’s role in UK networks.
But while British culture secretary Oliver Dowden has said he is engaging like-minded nations “even more intensely” on a telecoms strategy, one US official warned that the UK first needed to take a harsher stance towards Huawei before Washington could envisage a joint initiative with the so-called group of “D10” democratic countries.
London’s plans would unite the Five Eyes — the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — or a broader group of “D10” nations formed of the G7 plus India, South Korea, and Australia, in a joint enterprise collaborating on investment, procurement and research to fast-track Huawei’s rivals.