Western Allies Agree 5G Security Guidelines, Warn Of Outside Influence

Global security officials agreed a set of proposals on Friday for future 5G networks, highlighting concerns about equipment supplied by vendors that might be subject to state influence.

No suppliers were named, but the United States has been pressing allies to limit the role of Chinese telecom equipment makers such as Huawei Technologies over concerns their gear could be used by Beijing for spying. Huawei denies this.

“The overall risk of influence on a supplier by a third country should be taken into account,” participants at the conference in the Czech capital said in a non-binding statement released on the last day of the two-day gathering.

Representatives from 30 European Union, NATO and countries such as the United States, Germany, Japan and Australia attended the meeting to hash out an outline of practices that could form a coordinated approach to shared security and policy measures.

Diplomatic sources said participating countries were not ready to sign any documents in Prague because they had not concluded debates about the issue at home but called for participants to seize on the momentum moving forward.

“This would be a pity if this turns out to be a one-off event,” Japan’s ambassador for cyber policy Masato Ohtaka said.

Neither China nor Huawei were invited to the event, although participants said no country or company was being singled out.―Reuters