Romania’s Opposition Seeks Huawei Ban In Telecom Infrastructure

Romania’s biggest opposition party will trigger a public inquiry into Huawei’s contribution to critical infrastructure and seek to bar it from 5G network development due to mounting security concerns, its IT expert said on Tuesday.

Some Western countries, including the United States and Australia, have restricted Huawei from building next-generation mobile networks, citing concerns that its equipment may contain ‘back doors’ opening it to cyber-espionage.

Washington is concerned about the expansion of the world’s biggest maker of telecoms equipment in its NATO allies in central Europe, including Hungary and Poland. Romania has become particularly important since 2016, when the United States activated an $800 million missile shield site, angering Russia.

“We need to protect our strategic interests and there’s a lot of suspicion lingering around,” said Pavel Popescu, the National Liberal Party’s (PNL) representative on parliament’s IT committee. “It’s crucially urgent to block any public deals, contracts, tenders with the Chinese company.”

Huawei has repeatedly denied spying or intending to spy for the Chinese state. It has been present in the Romanian market since 2003.

The PNL expert pointed to a 2013 memorandum of understanding signed by the then-telecoms minister with Huawei, offering them an opportunity to participate in the construction of the national information and communications system, traffic monitoring, tracking and e-government projects.―Reuters