UK Huawei decision needs ‘careful examination,’ Canada says

ustin Trudeau’s government will look closely at Britain’s decision to let Huawei Technologies Co. build parts of the country’s fifth-generation mobile networks as it makes its own assessments of potential security risks.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, speaking Tuesday in Ottawa, said his primary responsibility is the “safety and security of Canadians” along with the “integrity” of Canada’s digital environment. Industry Minister Navdeep Bains said separately the Canadian government has yet to make a decision on the issue.

“The British decision today is one that requires careful examination and we’ll be looking at that decision and what they have put in place to protect their digital environment,” Blair told reporters after a cabinet meeting. “But our first consideration, frankly our most important consideration, is to take care of the Canadian environment.”

Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the U.K. will keep high-risk vendors out of the most sensitive core parts of the networks but will allow the company to supply other gear that’s critical to the roll-out of 5G, such as antennas and base stations.

Johnson’s decision is a blow to the Trump administration, which wanted the U.K. to impose an outright ban on the Shenzhen-based tech giant, citing concerns that its gear could be vulnerable to infiltration by Chinese spies. American officials had warned the U.S. may be forced to hold back secret intelligence from the U.K. in the future, if Britain pressed ahead with giving Huawei a role. The company has always denied it poses any security risk.

The U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand are part of the so-called Five Eyes security alliance. Australia and New Zealand have banned the company, making Canada the only one not to make a decision on Huawei’s participation in 5G.

In a statement Tuesday, Huawei Canada said it welcomed the U.K. decision but is “taking nothing for granted” as Trudeau’s government weighs its options. “Canadians should expect that any decision taken on this important issue is based on technology and security considerations, not politics,” the company said.

Trudeau’s decision is complicated by a bitter feud with China stemming from Canada’s arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer on an American extradition request in an Iran sanctions case at the end of 2018. Beijing locked up two Canadians on national security charges in the days that followed, and later halted nearly C$5 billion ($3.8 billion) worth of agricultural imports.

While the prime minister once hoped of striking a free-trade deal with the Asian powerhouse, Canada’s relations with China have been plunged into their darkest period in half a century.