In case we needed a reminder of WHY we don’t want a cut-throat regime having ‘backdoor’ access to all of our internet communication in the first place, this extortion is a helpful reminder.
The Chinese think we are over a barrel, and MUST comply with their demands to use Chinese 5G tech. The same 5G tech that is a KNOWN security risk.
Macron has reportedly been offered 1 Billion masks in exchange for a commitment to adopt Huawei’s 5G infrastructure.
Report: China says it will ship France a billion face masks — but only if they buy their 5G equipment from Huawei: https://t.co/dzmSlhFviD
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) April 5, 2020
Mike Pompeo’s recent op-ed gives some insight on why that would be a very VERY bad idea for any Western nation…
5G networks will soon touch every aspect of life, including critical infrastructure. Innovative new capabilities will power autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, smart grids and other groundbreaking technologies. Thanks to the way 5G networks are built, it’s impossible to separate any one part of the network from another.
With so much on the line, it’s urgent that trustworthy companies build these 21st-century information arteries. Specifically, it’s critical that European countries not give control of their critical infrastructure to Chinese tech giants like Huawei, or ZTE.
Just consider Huawei’s track record. The company, based in Shenzhen, maintains links to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. It is implicated in espionage in the Czech Republic, Poland and the Netherlands, has allegedly stolen intellectual property from foreign competitors in Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States, and is accused of bribery and corrupt practices in countries like Algeria, Belgium and Sierra Leone. Huawei receives massive state support that unfairly allows it to undercut prices offered by market-based rivals.
But securing 5G networks means more than preventing any one company from building them. China’s National Intelligence Law makes clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can force any 5G supplier headquartered in China to turn over data and take other actions in secret.
That’s troubling, because the CCP itself is behind a long list of malicious cyber activities. Just last year, the U.S. Department of Justice charged members of the Tianjin-based hacking group APT 10 — which acted in association with the Chinese Ministry for State Security — with attacking dozens of European and American firms to steal intellectual property and sensitive personal information.
With 5G capabilities, the CCP could use Huawei or ZTE’s access to steal private or proprietary information, or use “kill switches” to disrupt critical future applications like electrical grids and telesurgery centers. And one only needs to look at the CCP’s extensive human rights abuses in Xinjiang — so clearly laid out in recently leaked documents — to see how it is using technology for mass repression. — Politico
When this blows over, the whole world’s relationship with China is going to need a serious re-think.
