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Huawei’s Dystopian Aims for 6G
When President Trump banned both import of Huawei devices and export of hardware and software to Huawei, the decision was described in the press as “controversial”. The argument was that he banned Huawei 5G components and smartphones because he was: pick one: xenophobic, a Russian bot, ignorant of free trade, and (the best one) he is in thrall to Apple so he had to try to kill the Huawei smartphone business.
I have not seen “smoking gun” proof that Huawei 5G equipment includes spyware. But it could. Or it could get a firmware patch at any point that would add it because Huawei is a Chinese company and all Chinese companies are required to assist the CCP when it asks. So: (1) they could do it, and (2) if the CCP asks, they would do it.
Maybe the most important point is this: despite the Biden administration rushing to reverse every Trump policy as fast as they can sign papers, this one has not been touched. That could change tomorrow, but so far the Biden administration has not let up on China.
Today I ran across an article about Huawei’s proposal for 6G wireless. Its title is China’s Dystopian “New IP” Plan Shows Need for Renewed US Commitment to Internet Governance. The basic idea is set out in the early part of the piece:
Huawei’s plans for 6G and beyond make U.S. concerns over 5G look paltry: Huawei is proposing a fundamental internet redesign, which it calls “New IP,” designed to build “intrinsic security” into the web. Intrinsic security means that individuals must register to use the internet, and authorities can shut off an individual user’s internet access at any time. In short, Huawei is looking to integrate China’s “social credit,” surveillance, and censorship regimes into the internet’s architecture.
You think we have Cancel Culture now? Just wait.
Remember the sign held up by one of the Hong Kong protestors? “Don’t trust China. China is [redacted].”
Published in Foreign Policy
This is so typical of the CCP as it operates through the corporate world of China.
The CCP has been experimenting and trying to perfect its surveillance systems. See this story also.
The Chinese government is a horrible, oppressive, cruel, tyrannical, frankly evil enterprise. Most of the Chinese people have never experienced anything else. No Chinese business should have a hand in any critical component of our national infrastructure. Huawei absolutely shouldn’t be trusted. Excluding them from US 5G development, and encouraging European countries to do the same, was one of the good things the Trump administration did.
[ For the record: I’ve been to China. It’s a beautiful, fascinating place. I have three children adopted from Asian countries, one from China. I have three grandchildren whose mother, my daughter in law, was born in China. But the Chinese government is our enemy. ]
There is some good reading not only in that article but in some of the linked ones. Thank you.
The article points out that China’s aggressiveness in pushing its own standards and designs can be successful because the United States has abdicated its role, and continues to shirk. China (and to a lesser extent Russia) are filling that vacuum. If I remember right, a lot of this started under Obama, but it looks like nothing improved under Trump. But who among Trump’s base would have been agitating for the U.S. to resume its previous role?
As a guy who usually favors decentralization, I should point out that it seems there is some schizophrenia on the part of the writers of these articles. They favor a balkanized system of control in order to avoid a balkanized internet. I very much agree with their principles of action for how the internet should be developed and managed, such as distributed control among a variety of stakeholders, and responding to market demands and working them into the system as needs arise instead of trying to anticipate all uses and needs with a top-down advance design. But a balkanized network may be what in the end saves us from totalitarian control, whether by the CCP or the Wokist Party. It may not always be such a terrible thing.
I’ll also note that I’m not sure the inconsistencies on the topic of balkanization are real; it may just be that the language these writers use makes it seem that way and/or that I’m not mentally agile enough to understand at a sufficiently detailed level.
Maybe they’re waiting for a jump in their paychecks?
President Trump deserves a lot of credit for changing the prevailing narrative about China. I don’t particularly care if Trump Neckties were made in China, but President Trump was right to challenge Huawei’s contracts to build telecommunications infrastructure. Good to see some foreign policy sense from the new administration.
It’s still hypocrisy, because when Biden does it they say it’s carefully reasoned gravitas or whatever. When Trump did it, they say it’s just racist.