BURTON: Why Canada can’t let Huawei build a 5G network

Charles Burton, Associate Professor in Political Science at Brock University, had a piece recently published in the Ottawa Citizen  about the moral implications of allowing Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies access to Canada’s 5G installations.

Burton writes:

“Canada’s Big Three telecom companies aren’t waiting for the federal government’s ever-delayed Huawei security review. Telus has announced it will forge ahead and install Huawei 5G technology — damn the consequences. Bell will presumably not be far behind, as Rogers has already started to implement 5G service in four Canadian cities using Ericsson technology.

For the federal government, the Huawei decision clock is running out.

On Feb. 13, the U.S. government released a new indictment against Huawei and its CFO, Meng Wanzhou, depicting a corporate culture so corrupt that, besides extensive theft of intellectual property and propriety manufacturing processes by Huawei’s own espionage agents, there is even an incentive scheme rewarding employees who upload stolen materials to an encrypted e-mail address, or sneak into rivals’ labs and steal devices.

The indictment details Huawei’s mendacity, betrayal of commitments and half-hearted attempts to cover it all up by blaming “rogue employees.” It also cites Huawei’s provision of surveillance technology to Iran, which uses it to monitor, identify and detain protesters (presumably the same kit used against the Xinjiang Uyghurs, and coming soon to Hong Kong and the rest of China).”

Continue reading the full article here.


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