US starts whispering to Germany about China ban

The anti-China road-trip has finally made it to Europe as representatives of the US government have met with German counterparts to argue the case to ban Chinese vendors from the 5G deployment.

The Trump administration has quickly been working away around the world to spread anti-China propaganda, and it has been successful. Australia was the first domino to fall, but New Zealand has seemingly followed, as has Japan. South Korea will evade China’s grasp for other reasons, and it looks like Taiwan’s public sector is off limits as well. Now the parade has entered Europe and Germany.

According to Bloomberg, a US delegation has been meeting with officials from the Foreign Ministry to discuss a ban. These talks will of course be very hushed, but whether any concrete evidence is going to be presented remains to be seen. Earlier this week, Germany stepped forward and said it would need to see evidence before any actions would be taken against China.

“For such serious decisions like a ban, you need proof,” said Arne Schoenbohm, President of Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

This is the big question. Has the Trump administration masterminded a campaign of hate in the interest of national security, or does it believe crippling the prospects of Huawei and ZTE will protect the US position of dominance as the 5G dawn breaks. We are slightly pessimistic about the intentions of the Oval Office and believe the national security element is a thinly veiled disguise to push China’s tech leaderships challenge off-course.

What is worth noting is this meeting has taken almost immediately after Deutsche Telekom’s decision to re-examine its use of Huawei equipment in its network. DT has gone big on Huawei in previous years, therefore any ban against Chinese companies could have potentially impacted the speed of 5G rollout across Germany, perhaps explaining why the government is slightly resistant to joining the anti-China gang. That said, with DT potentially shunning Huawei in pursuit of White House favour (the Sprint/T-Mobile merger is reaching a critical point), the pressure might be lifted from the government.

This is also a government which might be swayed to the anti-China gang under the right conditions. The government has been discussing new legislation which would impact the role of Chinese service providers in the country, while reports of someone tapping Chancellor Angela Merkel in by-gone years are still fresh. Espionage is a sensitive subject.

While we will not defend the Chinese government, and we strongly suspect there are some nefarious activities going on behind the Great Firewall to extend the government’s eyes internationally, no proof has been tabled. The countries which are condemning China are acting without proof and assuming guilt without trial, betraying one of the base foundations of a democratic society; innocent until proven guilty.

In fact, ‘innocent until proven guilty’ it is an international human right under the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11. Admittedly this is directed towards criminal law, however the same principles apply. If there is evidence, this needs to be presented to the world. If there is no evidence, some needs to be found. We suspect the US government does not have the evidence yet, but it is out there somewhere.

Banning countries and presuming guilt on suspicions and paranoia is a dangerous path to walk, and you have to question whether we are any better than the freedom-crushing Chinese government. Supposed Democratic nations are betraying their own values in pursuit of punishing the ‘enemy’; two wrongs do not make a right.