The US won’t forget our Huawei betrayal
Trade talks with America should give the UK crucial leverage with the EU, but the White House is furious
The Government’s decision to give Huawei a lead role in the development of the UK’S 5G network is a grave error of judgment. It is a victory for Beijing and a slap in the face for Washington. The US reaction has been robust, swift and unflinching, and has taken British officials by surprise. They expected the anger in the US to dissipate. But from the White House to Capitol Hill, US officials and elected representatives are not about to overlook a move they consider to be reckless, short-sighted and full of risk for America’s closest friend and ally.
This attitude is shared across both major parties and by every level of the executive branch, from the Oval Office to the State Department, Pentagon and the CIA. President Trump is strongly opposed to British involvement with Huawei, not unbothered as some have claimed. A resolution introduced on Monday by the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, meanwhile, denounced the UK’S decision. In short, the issue is not just going to blow over in the next few weeks. It will be a centrepiece of US-UK discussions throughout the coming year, as both sides gear up for talks on a free-trade agreement.
What should particularly worry the UK is that the strongest criticism has emerged from the most pro-british figures in the US. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas declared that he “feared London has freed itself from Brussels only to cede sovereignty to Beijing”. Cotton’s voice matters. He sponsored a letter last August signed by 44 fellow Senators calling for a US-UK free trade deal. His sentiments on Huawei echo those of colleagues who have championed a new trade deal with the UK. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska warned that “our special relationship is less special now the UK has embraced the surveillance state commies at Huawei”. It makes no sense for Britain to undercut its friends in Washington.
Have UK officials underestimated the scale of US concern about China?
Huawei is viewed in the US as a subsidiary of the Chinese state, and the long-term consequences for the UK of continuing to work with the company are seen as disastrous. The concern is that not only will China take this opportunity to harvest data on a fellow member of the UN Security Council, but also that it will ruthlessly leverage its grip on the British economy. Ultimately, the US fears that China’s rulers will view the UK like a vassal state, threatening to turn off the 5G tap if the UK ever decided to stand up to China militarily in the Pacific.
The British decision may also open the floodgates for other European countries to go down the same path. The Italians and the Germans have been closely following the UK’S stance on Huawei. It is only a matter of time before China signs deals of a similar nature across Europe, increasing the dependence of its governments on hostile powers to the East.
The timing of the Government’s decision on Huawei could not have been worse, just as Britain embarks on a new course outside the EU. It is astonishing that in the Brexit era, with its emphasis on sovereignty, the UK would allow an adversary such as China to trample upon it. It beggars belief that one of the world’s freest countries would hand over a big stake in its telecommunications system to a government that outlaws democracy, operates a vast surveillance state, and imprisons hundreds of thousands of its own citizens in labour camps.
The UK badly needs an even closer partnership with the US, its biggest foreign direct investor and deepest military and intelligence ally. Negotiations over a free-trade deal should also provide the UK with crucial leverage over the EU in the coming months, but that will be all the harder if the Government is unable to assuage American concern about Huawei.
US leaders are speaking out today because they care about Britain. And there is still an opportunity for the PM to reverse course. Boris Johnson inherited a poor hand on Huawei from his predecessors. The US wants to move forward with an even stronger alliance with the UK, advancing free trade, free markets and individual liberty. The PM has shown tremendous leadership in taking the UK out of the EU. Just as he stood up to Brussels, he can stand up to Beijing now.