Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
According to the European media outlet Euractiv, data released by the Danish telecommunications consulting company Strand Consult shows that 17 EU member states "did not fully implement the Commission's tool, the 5G toolbox, which mandates member states to ban Chinese Huawei and ZTE from their networks." Euractiv also cited a European Parliament working document from March, which said that 14 member states have yet to implement any restrictions on so-called "high-risk suppliers." This should actually spur reflections among the EU on why these member states have chosen to engage in 5G cooperation with China, despite external pressure and repeated warnings about so-called "high risks."
Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based telecom industry association Information Consumption Alliance, told Global Times that many European countries are not keen on removing Chinese 5G equipment. After five years of practical experience, they have found that abandoning Chinese technology for domestic 5G construction not only leads to soaring costs but also leaves no one willing to foot the astronomical bills. Additionally, dismantling the equipment brings neither tangible benefits nor compensation.
Due to unwarranted security concerns and restrictions on Chinese telecom suppliers, EU countries' 5G deployment is facing a predicament where "the more restrictions imposed, the further behind they fall." In 2020, Brussels issued a recommendation to "either restrict or exclude high-risk 5G vendors such as Huawei from core parts of telecoms networks in the EU." After nearly five years of "efforts" by the EU, its 5G network remains slow and underperforming. According to global telecom industry body GSMA, by the end of 2024, only about 30 percent of European mobile connections were via 5G - a figure far below North America's 60 percent and the over-50 percent seen in many East Asian countries.
In 2024, the number of 5G base stations in China exceeded 4.1 million. In India, 469,000 5G base stations have been deployed, while the 27 EU countries together have a total of 460,000 5G base stations. While 5G deployment is advancing rapidly in other parts of the world, Europe is lagging behind. This inevitably raises the question: Who is bearing the cost of "de-risking"? Technology is inherently meant to be shared, and open cooperation is a key driving force behind technological development. An obsessive focus on severing ties will only isolate a country, resulting in missed opportunities and a lost future.
According to reports, MEPs are considering having the Commission make the EU's 5G cybersecurity toolbox mandatory under EU law in a bid to compel member states to take swift action. Some European lawmakers' anxiety stems, to some extent, from a zero-sum view of technological competition. To date, no country has proven that Chinese enterprises' equipment poses any security threats. On the contrary, by excluding Chinese equipment and components based on groundless fears, Europe is, under the guise of "de-risking," effectively undermining its own strengths and capabilities.
What Europe needs is not the bricks to build walls, but the wisdom to build bridges. Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei and ZTE started operation in Europe many years ago, not only have they done no harm to European countries' security, but they have also contributed substantially to the growth of Europe's telecom sector and generated considerable socioeconomic benefits. Now, in the face of the 5G wave, China holds technological and cost advantages in 5G deployment - advantages that are crucial for Europe to overcome its digital impasse.
Years of China-Europe cooperation have proven one truth: When Eastern wisdom meets European experience, it is possible to create innovative solutions that transcend zero-sum competition. Rather than wandering in the maze of "de-risking," Europe should dismantle the barriers of suspicion. After all, 5G is not a zero-sum game.
