Canada officially gives Huawei and ZTE the boot

Despite his frothy name, François-Philippe Champagne did not bring any sparkle for Chinese vendors waiting to hear if they would be allowed to sell products in Canada. The Canadian minister of innovation, science and industry had only disappointing news for Huawei and ZTE earlier today. From now on, neither will be allowed to serve Canadian operators.

After a “thorough review” by Canadian security watchdogs, authorities have decided “to prohibit the inclusion of Huawei and ZTE products and services in Canada’s telecommunications systems,” bubbled Champagne in an official statement. “As a result, telecommunications companies that operate in Canada would no longer be permitted to make use of designated equipment or services provided by Huawei or ZTE.” Operators will ultimately have to remove any Chinese products they have already deployed.

Nobody will be shocked. A Western backlash against Huawei and ZTE began when Donald Trump was in office, and it has continued to gather momentum. Canadian authorities have drawn on familiar arguments to justify their move – mainly that Huawei and ZTE could be forced by China’s government to include spyware or booby traps in their products. Because 5G could be used in critical infrastructure, the consequences might be devastating. And so on.

In truth, the latest prohibitions are more about geopolitics than strict security concerns. Invited to participate in global markets, Chinese companies have subsequently been accused of stealing intellectual property, undercutting Western rivals (including Nortel, a Canadian vendor no longer still in business) by accessing generous state subsidies and selling products to sanctioned regimes in Iran, North Korea and (more recently) Russia.

Western-style democracies rightly worry about the technological enrichment of a country that continues to threaten Taiwan, which still produces most of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. Rounding off the list of gripes, China has not properly opened its own huge market to Western companies, throwing mere scraps of business to Ericsson and Nokia.

Meng dynasty

Why now when a UK ban was announced way back in 2020? Probably because of the Meng Wanzhou affair. Huawei’s chief financial officer had been detained in Canada since late 2018, while the US sought her extradition on charges of fraud.

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