China's technological challenge goes beyond Huawei, says British spy master

LONDON (Reuters) – The West must understand that the challenge of the Chinese technological revolution is much deeper than the Huawei-US conflict over intellectual property theft and espionage, said one of the best British spies.

Huawei, the world's largest producer of telecommunications equipment, is under scrutiny after the United States has asked allies not to use its technology, fearing that this will serve as a vehicle for operations. Chinese spying.

Jeremy Fleming, Head of United Kingdom Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said the incredible pace of technological change is creating unprecedented uncertainty, instability and risk.

"The strategic challenge of China's place in the globalized technology era far exceeds the capabilities of a single telecom equipment manufacturer," said Fleming, one of Britain's top three spies. Singapore.

"This is a strategic challenge of the highest order for all of us," he said. "We must understand the opportunities and threats of the Chinese technological offer."

GCHQ is the UK's leading spy agency and maintains close relations with the US National Security Agency and Australian, Canadian and New Zealand listening agencies in a consortium called Five Eyes ".

In what some have compared to the Cold War arms race, the United States fears that 5G domination will give a global competitor such as China an edge that Washington is not willing to accept. .

5G technology, which will deliver much faster data speeds and become the cornerstone of many sectors and networks, is a breakthrough technology, "said Fleming.

"5G will be one of the most important and successful technologies of this era or any other era," he said, adding that he wanted a diverse supplier market.

"A consolidated market to such a point that there remains only a small number of viable options will not allow good cybernetic security. It does not matter if these options are Western, Chinese or elsewhere, "said Fleming.

Huawei President Guo Ping reiterated on Sunday his company's position that it never and would not allow any country to spy on its equipment.

Guo said the United States does not represent the world and has called on equipment manufacturers, network operators and governments to work together to develop reliable standards for managing cyber security risks.