UK Media Accuses China of ‘Rigging’ 5G Test to Defend Huawei

With the testing due to wrap up before the end of this month, Beijing hopes that it can be used to signal Huawei's suitability for 5G deployment, especially after the US placed the Chinese tech giant in a blacklist last month.
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China is “rigging” 5G equipment testing in order to “discredit the Western rivals of its embattled telecoms champion Huawei”, such as Nokia and Ericsson, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

The newspaper quoted unnamed Whitehall and industry sources as saying that Beijing is “feeding secret details of security vulnerabilities” to more than 100 IT specialists so that the balance can be changed in Huawei's favour.

READ MORE: Analyst: Any Sort of Move Against Huawei Is Double Edged Sword in Many Ways

In a security test of 5G equipment, hacking techniques are specifically used “to check for weak spots”, according to the sources.

They claimed that “it is believed that vulnerabilities discovered by China’s secret state hackers have been passed to the 5G testers to ensure Nokia and Ericsson's equipment is found to be unsecure”.

The testing is expected to complete on 10 June, which the sources said will be “in time for Beijing to use the results to attempt to influence a crucial EU review of 5G security this summer”.

The claims come a few weeks after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang underscored that Washington is trying to use all possible means to make citizens of the United States and other countries believe that Huawei, a telecommunications company, poses a security threat.

READ MORE: Microsoft WARNS US Crackdown on China's Huawei Could Backfire

“Sometimes they try to use the so-called ideological issue and try to exaggerate the relationship between Chinese business and the government,” Lu added.

The statement followed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claiming that Huawei and its alleged ties to the Chinese government presented a real risk to US national security, something that was rejected by the tech giant.

Huawei Threat Artificially Inflated by Radical US Politicians - Pundits
Earlier, the Chinese corporation filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to grapple with the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) that was signed by President Donald Trump in May and that added Huawei and its 70 affiliates to a trade blacklist, restricting the company's activity in the US.

The move prompted several US corporations, such as Google and Microsoft as well as major semiconductor makers, including Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx and Broadcom, to follow suit and sever ties with Huawei.

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