Huawei is being treated as a national security threat in some countries over its ties to the Chinese government. Reuters



By Jung Min-ho





Bates Gill.

The United States, Britain, Australia and now Japan. Huawei, a Chinese telecoms equipment maker, is facing severe restrictions over its ties to the Chinese government.



On Aug. 23, the Australian government decided to block the company from rolling out 5G technology on the country's wireless networks, due to national security concerns. Now Japan's government is considering doing the same.



Meanwhile, Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier LG Uplus is set to buy 5G network equipment from Huawei for its latest mobile services. Should Koreans be worried? Experts say they are right to be cautious.



"The future 5G network is considered critical infrastructure. As such, insider knowledge of the 5G network ― which its builders and operators would possess ― could not only provide access to sensitive information within the system, such as transport and energy grids, water supplies, financial and banking services, but also allow those builders and operators to disrupt those systems if they chose to," Bates Gill, professor of Asia-Pacific security studies at Sydney's Macquarie University, told The Korea Times.





Shambhu Upadhyaya