Thread by @AzeemIbrahim

The UK govn is set to award #Huawei access to it’s 5G network. This will be a mistake of epic proportions and is based on a complete inability to understand what Huawei is and the motivation of the CCP.

My piece in @foreignpolicy today:

foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/04/joh…

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The UK govn claims Huawei is ahead in 5G tech than any other company and it would be limited to only the nonessential parts of UK comms.

The fundamental problem with Huawei is that it is not a regular company as we understand them. EVERYTHING it does goes back to Beijing

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ALL Chinese companies MUST defer to govn narratives (see ##Taiwan and Tibet)— and if the West hadn’t understood that dynamic, look at what is happening in #Xinjiang.

But the recent #NBA scandal in US should have been a serious wake up call for things to come

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A SINGLE tweet supporting #HongKongProstests by a general manager of a basketball team in the US would have gone unnoticed. But China is the second biggest market for the NBA and NO company can be seen as being unpatriotic.

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China threatened to cut sponsor ties, withdraw digital rights, exhibitions thus forcing the NBA into a humiliating and shameful climb down.

Remember this was a SINGLE tweet!!!

This should be a red flag to any govn over Huawei and other such tie-ups.

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Beijing has COMPLETE control over large Chinese corporations. Chinese firms routinely humiliate themselves to show subservience to CCP, whether it’s public apologies or pledges to recommit themselves to serving the party or handing over control to party cells.

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Huawei’s ties to the Chinese military are well known. But the real problem is that it’s utterly impossible for any Chinese business to be anything other than be a client to the Chinese Communist Party.

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To give Huawei access access to your comm infrastructure is to give Beijing the possibility to monitor communication flows in the entire country, maybe intercept some of those comms, and most certainly to disrupt or outright interrupt communications throughout the country.

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Does Huawei have a plan to do this? Probably not. But that does not matter. Huawei does not have the latitude to be unpatriotic. Huawei is entirely dependent on the grace and favor of the Communist Party in Beijing to continue to operate.

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China’s Cybersecurity Law also stipulates Chinese companies must furnish the Chinese govn access to their data anytime the govn require it. IE if Huawei will not interfere with the U.K.’s 5G, the govn will take the relevant information from Huawei and do it themselves.

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A Chinese corporation is not merely an economic entity. It is a political extension of Beijing’s will, both in domestic policy in China and, increasingly importantly, in the global markets.

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If Beijing can flex its muscle and bring to heel the NBA, Cathay Pacific or Blizzard, what do you think will happen next time UK govn criticizes China when Huawei is fully integrated into its 5G comms network?

You will then realize that you are a Chinese client state.

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