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German authorities do not consider a ban on Huawei necessary, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Tuesday, and analysts said it would be a smart decision for Germany not to exclude Huawei in 5G network building.

"Europe and the US are not one and the same. Germany, in particular, will not be pressured by the US," Zhou Xuezhi, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

A draft of the IT Security Act published by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) on Tuesday laid down the criteria and rules that telecom companies must observe. 

Under the law, suppliers that have passed the technical review can be vetoed only if the Chancellery, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economics jointly express their opposition, from which the stipulation is that Huawei should not be prohibited.

"It doesn't matter whether the IT component comes from China, Korea or Sweden," said Arne Schönbohm, head of the BSI. The problem of industrial espionage is "controllable," Handelsblatt reported in May.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May threatened US allies, including Germany, France and the UK, saying that it could cut off crucial intelligence data if they allow Huawei to build their telecom infrastructure. Pompeo is traveling to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria and Poland from Tuesday to Saturday, where he is expected to discuss topics including 5G, Huawei and counter-China actions.

After Britain's change of attitude towards Huawei, saying in July it would ban Huawei from building Britain's 5G network, other European countries have not followed suit. 

"Germany does not want to pay for American interests. Trump's America-first policy has damaged the national interests of many traditional allies in Europe," Hu Qimu, a senior fellow at the Sinosteel Economic Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Industry analysts have warned that European operators who already used Huawei equipment could face the extra cost of replacing Chinese equipment, which is cheaper than that of Ericsson or Nokia.

Hu said that if Germany excludes Huawei, it would increase the difficulty of 5G construction, as Huawei holds the most patents in the 5G field.

China's global economic power makes it a tougher foe to counter than the Soviet Union during the Cold War, said Pompeo on Wednesday in a speech to the Czech Senate.

Hardly any other country has benefited from the economic opening of the world as much as Germany, according to a commentary published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Saturday, which also said that it's good to have a choice between Apple and Huawei smartphones. It also noted that Europe cannot compete with the US in the same way as China.

"Germany is an important anchor for Huawei in Europe," Ma Jihua, an industry analyst and a close follower of Huawei, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Germany has strong influence within the European Union and can have a demonstration effect. With Germany's support, Huawei will have a basis to participate in telecom building in Europe, Ma added.



Global Times