Huawei, a Communication Upgrade Headache

"The federal government has no choice but to announce that Huawei will not be allowed [given Chinese national security laws and the United Ststes' position on Huawei]."

"This would be an easy way to demonstrate to the Americans that we are taking security questions related to China seriously."

Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China 

"All of our key allies have banned Huawei gear [banning Huawei is a] no-brainer."

"I don't think I would expect a lot of immediate dramatic reaction on China's part, just simply because the Olympics are coming up. And China wouldn't want to do anything that would rock the boat."

"And so if you're going to pull a band-aid off, you might as well do it now [since Canada-China relations are at such a low ebb in any event]."

David Welch, professor of political science, University of Waterloo

"[Going the same route as our Five Eyes allies who have taken action to block or restrict Huawei equipment is] of critical importance."

"All of the members have to have roughly the same perspective on the security of their broader infrastructure networks. But there's also the kind of political symbolic perspective. It would have been significant had ... one of the members of the Western alliance sort of broken ranks and embraced Huawei when everyone else was rejecting it."

"If we don't ban Huawei gear, it's very likely our Five Eyes allies will say, all right, you can't participate in the same way that you've been participating because there are potential leaks in your communications infrastructure."

Kim Nossal, professor emeritus of international relations, Queen's University

The Huawei brand logo is seen on a building in the sprawling Huawei headquarters campus in Shenzhen, China, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

"[In the time period since the government's 5G security review was first announced in 2018], existing rules have remained in effect, and so we have continued selling network equipment -- several hundred million dollars worth -- to Canadian operators."

"Most Canadian cities and provinces have had Huawei equipment in their networks for many years, without incident. Indeed, we are proud of our security record in Canada."

"For years, Huawei equipment has been closely and routinely scrutinized by the government and its security agencies. There have been no security incidents -- none -- relating to Huawei equipment in Canada."

Alykhan Velshi, vice-president of corporate affairs, Huawei Canada

Through the last few years with Canada and the world at large grappling with Beijing's 'hostage diplomacy' whereby the regime whose rage is readily piqued, decides to take a foreigner into custody charging them with exploitation or drug smuggling or more commonly, sabotage, in reaction to what the Communist Party of China sees as an affront to China's dignity, as punishment for lack of respect and discretion, two Canadians spent almost three years in prison following the arrest on an extradition warrant by the U.S. for Huawei's CFO.

Countries the world over have condemned China for its violently harsh treatment of its minority Uyghur population in Xnjiang, along with the persecution of Tibetans. Its territorial claims to disputed areas of the South China Sea and its actions in Hong Kong denying its agreed-upon semi-autonomy to quash its aspirations in democracy, alongside its threats to Taiwan have not endeared China to much of the world. Under President Xi Jinping with his ruler-for-life ambitions The CCP has become increasingly belligerent.

Its Belt and Road initiative to gain it greater trade advantages and financially obligating impoverished countries in Africa and the Middle East in indebtedness to the massive infrastructure loans in pursuing the widespread, China-advantageous old Silk Road spells out Beijing's route to the future as a world power. But for the West in particular, it is China's ongoing cyber-spying in intelligence gathering and exploiting of corporate and military secrets through cyber surveillance and rogue cyber-warfare that disturbs the free world.

Of the Five Eyes intelligence coalition comprised of Britain, New Zealand, Australia the United States and Canada, only Canada's government alone has failed to declare that its 5G national communications upgrade would exclude Huawei. Canada has made no response whatever to China's constant interference in internal Canadian affairs, its covert infiltration of Canadian society, academia, corporate business, and politics. Nor the moves Beijing has taken to punish Canada for its Meng Wanzhou detainment through halting its imports of key agricultural products.

Despite all the diplomatic 'tiger' slings and arrows Beijing has directed Canada's way, the Trudeau government has continued to tread lightly, absorbing the insults while abstaining from taking counter actions itself. China has warned Canada of 'consequences' should Huawei not be included in its 5G upgrade. Canada quavers, China emits bellicose threats. Huawei has been banned in the West's communications systems a little late in the day, but later is better than not at all. 

The fear that Huawei equipment in the next-generation wireless networking risks security is a well-founded caution, particularly in view of China's laws stating that companies with any state connection -- as almost all have -- are legally obligated to cooperate with China's intelligence services. China appeals to its expatriate community's loyalty to China, to be faithful to their country of origin by willingly cooperating with Chinese intelligence as well.

In the arguments for banning Huawei by Canadian China experts, former Ambassador Saint-Jacques predicts China would "probably retaliate by banning one of our exports", or some such similar and symbolic measure of its displeasure with Canada. Pointing out that to do so would mean selecting a product they would be able to obtain elsewhere, something fungible, so that China would not deprive itself and its population of badly needed products like pork and soya. With agri-foods "there is a limited number of countries where they can source their products", he points out.

Large Canadian telecoms would not be impacted deleteriously by the Huawei ban, since having pro-actively moved independently, to change to Nokia products while awaiting a government decision, to build their 5G networks with equipment from other sources. There "seems to be a lot of agonizing over a decision which, in effect,  has already been made" by Canada's large telecoms, noted Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University.

The situation will hit other, smaller telecom companies who will be faced with the expense and work of removing Huawei equipment from their existing infrastructure, and whether government would be prepared to underwrite their costs. Even for the leading wireless carriers the cost of removing Huawei equipment would land in the hundreds of millions of dollars. As Telus informed government in3018, "a full ban on Huawei for 5G will force operators to replace their existing 4G Huawei equipment -- an expensive and complex proposition over an elongated time frame".

Should the Trudeau government finally proceed with banning Huawei, national and cybersecurity experts warn that prohibition of Huawei equipment won't alone ensure securing Canada's 5G networks against cybertheft and intrusion. Toronto-based Citizen Lab's reported cautioned that banning Huawei "will not solve the issue of foreign operators conducting espionage, disruption, or attack operations against the Government of Canada, private companies, or private persons who rely on non-Huawei equipment." 

Meng Wanzhou delivers a statement to members of the media as she exits provincial court in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 24. Photographer: Jimmy Jeong/Bloomberg

"[Security concerns go beyond Huawei]; All 5G equipment has terrible cybersecurity flaws."

"China doesn't need Huawei to hack us."

"China can hack us right now."

"Banning Huawei doesn't make us safe."

Stehanie Carvin, associate professor of international relations, Carleton University

The Case for Banning Huawei from the 5G Networks of Five Eyes Allies

"Let me say something from Canada's perspective [...] I would argue that the amount of harm that China can do to any one of our countries is in fact limited. Would there be short-term pain? Would there be perhaps serious pain for a little while? It is nothing like the kind of pain that might be felt by Vietnam or Malaysia [neighbours of China constantly exposed to its territorial bullying] or some countries in that part of the world."
"Everybody sort of reacts and said 'China's there, they're so important, we can't antagonize them'. I would argue that our countries [Five Eye allies] would not be materially hurt in the medium to long term if we said no to Huawei." 
"We should make a really careful review and not only rely on the research that characterizes China as a phenomenal market."
"Huawei is a Chinese company in the sense that it's not state owned, but it's operating in a sector considered strategic by the Chinese state and it's clearly subject to direction by the Chinese state."
Richard Fadden, former head, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

"There are a lot of impressions of China as this ten-foot economic giant."
"But if you look at the actual numbers, the amount of reliance on China for trade is relatively small."
Martin Rjasser, former senior intelligence officer, U.S. CIA, Conference of Defence Associations Institute

Countries in the Five Eyes alliance share security information with each other (Picture: Crown Copyright)

China, as a massive influence on the world economy, with the power of its 1.4-billion population labour base and huge consumer market attracting avid attention from corporate offices all over the world anxious to invest and to trade with the colossus, also inspires trepidation and caution in the minds of government authorities and their intelligence agencies as a result of its avaricious over-reach. Its plans for greater influence and control of the emerging nations of the world, its outreach to grasp the world's minerals and other natural resources arouses suspicion everywhere.

Its territorial ambitions are expansive and aggressive. Its hunger for new technology, particularly artificial intelligence is fed by its nonchalant lifting of trade secrets from the laboratories of nations that have invested time and expertise in developing them. China wishes to advantage itself by any means possible, many of which are piratical and obviously unethical. Espionage it conducts through reminding its citizens and companies abroad of their obligations to the state arouse doubts that its telecommunications giant Huawei will be an innocent player in global communications.

Canada's relations with China have been fraught with tension, caught in a trade war between its southern neighbour and largest trade partner, the United States, and China, Canada's third-largest trade destination. Beijing has been punishing Canada for its insolence in honouring an extradition agreement with the United States, in holding the CFO of Huawei on an American warrant. Accusations of 'racism' have echoed from Beijing to Ottawa, even as two Canadians are being held incommunicado as jailed hostages and Canadian exports in canola and beef to the huge market in China have been hobbled as punishment.

China is notorious for cyber-espionage, for ignoring copyright, for hijacking state and corporate secret files. Because Huawei answers directly to the Chinese Communist Party, suspicion that spyware can be planted in other nations' 5G upgrades proliferate, with reason. The Five eyes Intelligence alliance comprised of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia have much to lose should China have access to intelligence shared between the five. To the extent that if any among the five agree to allow Huawei to take part in their upgrade, the other four would be endangered as well.

The promise with 5G wireless is speed of connection and greater bandwidth, permitting expanded use of digital technology overall. Private and secret information travelling along those networks would certainly be susceptible to cybersecurity lapses, making the countries involved vulnerable to China's eagerness to obtain secret information meant only for Five Eyes Intelligence alone.

"Seeing how China has manipulated data about COVID-19, seeing how China has reacted toward countries that act in ways it doesn't appreciate, and knowing how crucial 5G will be to economies in the future, it's clear that involving Huawei would create a vulnerability."
"The trust with China is gone."
Guy Saint-Jacques, Canadian ambassador to China, 2012 and 2016

Photo: Lynn Grieveson

China, Helping Canada See the Error of its Ways ....

"I had never even thought of China [back in 1979 when Beijing began opening up to its version of democracy-plus-free-enterprise]. It was not on my radar at all, but this sounded really interesting."
"So, my husband and I went over to China [to travel in China, which led to a master's degree in international relations with a Chinese focus]."
"When I came home [40 years later], I decided to speak out. Up until January [of 2019], I had never done an interview in my life. But I feel it's important that friends of China -- former friends of China -- speak out about this [Beijing's increasingly authoritarian streak]."
"I'm not feeling very friendly toward China, if you can tell."
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, former vice-president, Canada-China Friendship Association

"We are rolling over, we are acquiescing, at a time when Chinese aggression is on the rise. We should be working with like-minded allies to send a real signal that such conduct is not condoned."
"[If keeping quiet and friendly were going to work with China, Spavor and Kovrig] would have been released months ago."
Erin O'Toole, Parliamentary opposition, foreign affairs critic

"[Beijing] is good at co-opting former government officials and politicians by offering them seats on boards and contracts."
"Obviously, then it becomes very difficult for you to become critical of China."
Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China


"There's nothing like back door devices being installed by Huawei. So that's a groundless accusation."
"So we do hope that the Canadian side will provide a fair, just and a non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies, including Huawei."
"We do hope that the Canadian side will reflect on what has happened and take concrete measures to push our relationship back to the normal track. So that's the task for the government."
"And we do hope that those important people in the new [Liberal] cabinet will play an active role in making sure that relations of our two countries return to their normal track on the basis of mutual respect and equality."
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Canada Cong Peiwu

Cong Peiwu spoke to reporters at China's Embassy in Ottawa  CBC

"When they get Huawei into Canada ... they're going to know every health record, every banking record, every social media post -- they're going to know everything about every single Canadian."
"What the Chinese are doing makes Facebook and Google look like child's play, as far as collecting information on folks. The Huawei Trojan horse is frightening, it's terrifying."
"I find it amazing that our allies and friends in other liberal democracies would allow Huawei in ... I'm surprised that there's even a debate out there."
"[Such an intrusion would impact on Canada's participation in the Five Eyes Intelligence alliance of Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.]."
Robert O'Brien, U.S. National Security Adviser

Ambassador Cong, in delivering Beijing's message to Ottawa, is using coded language when he urges the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to 'return to their normal track', and to 'take concrete measures to push our relationship back to the normal track'. He has outlined the 'task for the government' of Canada. There is nothing necessarily that Beijing must do to restore relations between the two nations, for it has done nothing untoward. It was Canada's concurrence through its extradition treaty with its southern neighbour that launched the unfortunate decision to comply with the U.S. by assaulting China.

For in arresting Huawei Technology's CFO Meng Wenzhou at the behest of the U.S. State Department, this is what Beijing has accused Canada of -- criminal malfeasance, defying international law. Whereas China's response to the insult bestowed upon one of its citizens by summarily arresting two Canadians in China for business purposes and accusing them of plotting against China -- charging them with espionage, incarcerating them under harsh conditions while Ms. Meng, out on bail, lives in one of her luxury mansions in Vancouver -- has been mindful of and obedient to the rule of law.

Beijing knows with whom it is dealing. While former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien was in office he led numerous elaborate 'trade missions' to China from Canada, familiarizing himself with useful Chinese officials whom he called upon once he left office to become a private citizen and continued to lead trade missions to China, the prestige of a former prime minister opening doors, and with his insider status intact. When former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policy was to regard trade with China as second to its human rights abuses, Mr. Chretien poured scorn upon him; nothing should impede unrestrained trade alliances with China.

This Liberal government under Justin Trudeau has tread softly around China's outrageous response to the U.S.-Canada extradition treaty, when Beijing arrested two Canadians, imposed death sentences for drug smuggling on another two Canadians and placed punishing constraints on the importation of Canadian canola, soy, peas, pork and beef products, devastating the Canadian agricultural sector through punishing sanctions on a country that refused to come to heel and release the Huawei executive.

Michael Spavor, left, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, right (Canadian Press)

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston had dedicated her working life to enhancing relations between Canada and China, collaborating to advance the relationship between the two countries. She aided China in its science and technology development during its period of reform, as a Canadian civil servant, while considering herself a staunch "friend of China". And then, after forty years of work in that realm the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, followed by the incarceration of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, she discovered her locked luggage had been unlocked and rifled through in her Shanghai hotel room.

Soon a local business acquaintance informed her of a list of 100 Canadians that Chinese authorities had compiled representing those who could be detained and interrogated, among the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who live and work in China; Hong Kong alone has 300,000 people with Canadian citizenship. In other words, Canadians living in Hong Kong are also under scrutiny and their security is of concern as well, particularly given the violent turn of the protests in the partially autonomous city.

And China has warned Canada, through the stern advice of its latest ambassador that it would not be in Canada's interests to 'interfere' in China's internal affairs.

A protester is detained by riot police while attempting to leave the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) during clashes with police in Hong Kong, China November 18, 2019. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The current Liberal government in Canada takes advice from its past prime minister on such issues; and no doubt the advice was not to further ruffle any feathers, to sit back and let events take their course. Naturally, the imprisoned Canadians, despite the harsh conditions they are suffering, would staunchly opt to sit back and suffer their circumstances, in support of their government's position, for no sacrifice is too great to protect Canadian trade with China.

Some 140 and more signatories in the academic and diplomatic global community demanded through a joint letter that China release Kovrig and Spavor. A mere 6 Canadian academics and six former Canadian ambassadors to China signed.

It has been observed that more than a few advisers to the Liberal government have what they consider to be valued and hard-won ties and interests in China. The new ambassador to Beijing, Dominic Barton, among them. Many Canadian academics, politicians and business leaders have compromised positions finding it difficult to criticize China, for to do so would be to risk the status they have won and cherish for the opportunities and funding that status guarantees them.