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| Huawei is being treated as a national security threat in some countries over its ties to the Chinese government. Reuters |
By Jung Min-ho
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| Bates Gill. |
On Aug. 23, the Australian government decided to block the company from rolling out 5G technology on the country's wireless networks, due to national security concerns. Now Japan's government is considering doing the same.
Meanwhile, Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier LG Uplus is set to buy 5G network equipment from Huawei for its latest mobile services. Should Koreans be worried? Experts say they are right to be cautious.
"The future 5G network is considered critical infrastructure. As such, insider knowledge of the 5G network ― which its builders and operators would possess ― could not only provide access to sensitive information within the system, such as transport and energy grids, water supplies, financial and banking services, but also allow those builders and operators to disrupt those systems if they chose to," Bates Gill, professor of Asia-Pacific security studies at Sydney's Macquarie University, told The Korea Times.
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| Shambhu Upadhyaya |
"Intellectual property can be stolen by determined hackers and reverse engineering," he said. "Insider attacks (revealing sensitive information from trusted individuals) are another type of attack that can do a lot of harm … Although I do not have any evidence on this in the Huawei context, insider attacks are not uncommon in other sectors such as financial and military."
Politically, some governments do not trust Huawei to be independent of China's government.
"The Chinese Communist Party has enormous leverage over Chinese companies and citizens to oblige them to act on behalf of Party and government interests," Gill said. "Perceptions of Huawei's loyalties are not helped by the fact that it was founded and is still led by a former engineer with the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Ren Zhengfei."
It is no secret that the Chinese government uses the power of its vast markets and companies to cow and co-opt foreign governments and firms whenever it feels necessary. Not long ago, Beijing "retaliated" against Seoul by throttling its tourism industry over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system here ― known as "THAAD revenge."
There is little reason to imagine that the government has changed or will treat Huawei differently. Chances are that it will fall back to its old habit when things turn bad and Huawei will have no choice but to comply.
"The key for the South Korean government is to determine whether Huawei's involvement will open access to highly sensitive information and critical infrastructure in South Korea," Gill said.
"If so, it is best to err on the side of caution and strictly monitor, limit or prevent such access. The government should not do so on the basis that the company is Chinese, but rather on the basis of protecting sensitive information and critical infrastructure."
Security risks of using Huawei's products have not emerged as a major issue at the National Assembly yet. But in comments apparently aimed at LG Uplus in July, Rep. Shin Yong-hyeon of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party raised the issue and said all Korean firms should consider security issues as an important factor in selecting 5G network equipment.
