The UK daily Times reported that the United Kingdom is looking to pursuing an alliance of 10 countries and create a 5G alternate pool to stop the monopoly of China especially its telecom giant Huawei.
The alliance is reportedly called D10 which includes 10 democracies like India, Australia, South Korea, France, Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The move comes after the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei limited permission to supply kits for the country’s 5G networks. Back then, Boris Johnson was the only one who withstood the ban Huawei force led by the United States. But this was met with severe backlash by Johnson’s own party members as they believed that Huawei’s involvement could pose a national security threat.
Reports from the United Kingdom suggest that the government is looking to phase out Huawei from the 5G networks in three years and it also launched a review of Huawei’s role in the country’s 5G plans. With the United Kingdom already approaching the White House for its D10 initiative, the move is speculated to marginalize China.
US-UK to marginalize China
The move towards establishing the alliance is to open doors for more 5G equipment and technology players to come in and as well as to ensure that the new entrants are from like-minded democracies. A report in the Times stated that,
“One option would see the club channel investment to technology companies based within its member states. Nokia and Ericsson are the only European suppliers of 5G infrastructure and experts say that they cannot provide a 5G kit as quickly or as cheaply as Huawei.”
The formation of this alliance to marginalize the Chinese led Huawei to come at a time when there is growing backlash against the Chinese regime regarding the mishandling of the novel coronavirus pandemic that has resulted in a loss of over 1 million lives around the world. Simultaneously, the political class of the United Kingdom is seriously considering to rethink its relationship with Beijing.
Earlier this month, the United States government had announced to impose sanctions on the Chinese tech-giant Huawei continuing its effort to marginalize China from the global market.
Source: The Print
