"Chinese Ambassadors Pressure UK and France: 'Stop Discriminating Against Huawei'"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] China has warned France and the United Kingdom not to discriminate against Huawei in the 5G network equipment business.

According to major foreign media on the 9th (local time), the Chinese Embassy in Paris posted a lengthy statement on its website the previous day, asserting that "France should establish transparent regulations and treat all companies equally." The embassy criticized excluding Huawei based on its country of origin as "blatant discrimination" and "disguised protectionism." It added that it does not want to see Finnish Nokia and Swedish Ericsson "shocked by discrimination and protectionism in their business with China."

This statement came after Orange, France's top mobile carrier, announced in April that it would exclude Huawei from the 5G network-related bidding and proceed with Nokia and Ericsson instead. The Chinese Embassy emphasized that "Huawei's 5G network is completely safe" and that it has never left a "backdoor" open.

On the same day, Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, appeared on BBC and criticized senior Conservative Party lawmakers who urged the government to exclude Huawei, calling it a "witch hunt." He stated, "They (the Conservative lawmakers) are completely wrong. What they are doing is a kind of witch hunt," and emphasized, "Huawei is a private company and has no connection with the Chinese government." Ambassador Liu added, "The only issue is that this company is Chinese."

The reason China issued such statements to European countries is because the United States continues to pressure Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment company. Whether to adopt Huawei has become a key issue in European countries' discussions on introducing 5G network equipment.

The UK government decided at the end of last month to allow Huawei equipment in some non-core parts of the 5G network construction project. However, Huawei's market share was limited to no more than 35%. Regarding this, Ambassador Liu welcomed the UK's decision but criticized the market share restriction, saying it "does not show the principles of the UK's free economy and autonomous competition," and added, "It is not 100% satisfactory."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.