Huawei says Trump administration put Canada in a ‘difficult situation’

Huawei has acknowledged that Canada is under pressure from the Trump administration to ban the company from its 5G deployment.

Steve Liu, Huawei’s vice-president of public affairs and communications, told the CBC that the company knows “the Trump administration put Canada in a very difficult situation.”

This comes as opposition parties have passed a motion put forward by the Conservatives to call on the Liberal government to make a decision in its Huawei 5G security review.

The motion was passed on November 18th by 179 votes to 146, and calls on the federal government to decide within 30 days whether Huawei will be allowed to participate in the rollout of 5G across the country.

Canada is now the only member of the Five Eyes Alliance to not ban or restrict the use of Huawei 5G equipment. Other countries in the alliance are the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Liu told the CBC that Huawei is ready to honour the Canadian government’s decision regarding its security review into the company, regardless of the outcome.

“If the decision is based on evidence, based on technology and based on cybersecurity, we will respect [it],” he stated.

The federal government hasn’t provided a timeline on when it may come to a decision regarding its Huawei 5G security review. The delay came as China arrested two Canadians nearly two years ago, which is widely seen as retaliation for Meng Wanzhou’s arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Liu stated that he understands that the families of the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, are hopeful for their return and stated that the same could be said about China’s desire to see Meng released.

The U.S. has been urging its allies to ban Huawei equipment from 5G deployment and has claimed that the Chinese company poses a security risk. Huawei has repeatedly rejected this accusation.

Source: CBC News