China Warns of Retaliation Over EU's Push to Ban Huawei Equipment

China has warned of possible retaliation against the European Union (EU) for its push to ban Huawei equipment. This response comes as the EU moves to classify Chinese telecommunications equipment as a cybersecurity risk and seeks to mandate restrictions on its use.

Reuters Yonhap News

According to Bloomberg News on April 29 (local time), the Chinese Mission to the EU issued a statement at a meeting in Brussels, declaring, "If the EU continues to pursue this proposal, China will have no choice but to take corresponding countermeasures against the EU and EU companies." The statement further warned that if the EU uses this legislation to require European companies to remove Chinese equipment, China "may initiate relevant investigations against the EU or EU companies and take corresponding measures."

Henna Virkkunen, First Vice President of the European Commission, is leading efforts to mandate the phasing out of equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from the communications infrastructure of EU member states. In January, she proposed including mandatory measures to strengthen network security in the Cybersecurity Act.

The Chinese Mission also requested that the European Commission remove language from the proposal that designates Chinese equipment as a cybersecurity concern or classifies Chinese companies as "high-risk" suppliers.

Several European countries and the United Kingdom have regarded the relationship between Huawei and the Chinese government as a security threat and have taken steps to ban such equipment from the core areas of their telecommunications networks. In 2020, the European Commission introduced voluntary guidelines through its 5G Toolbox, advising countries to restrict the use of "high-risk suppliers."

However, critics argue that these bans limit access to key network component suppliers, forcing telecommunications companies to rely on more expensive or less advanced suppliers. Aside from Huawei, the main telecommunications equipment suppliers are considered to be Nokia and Ericsson.

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