Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and its fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology present an extremely high risk to Latin American democracies because of the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), says University of Wisconsin. said Euclides Tapia, professor of international relations.Panama spoke Dear logo June 11th.
“The problem is that the Chinese Communist Party is interfering with their companies.” [Huawei]Like other Chinese companies, there is a final word. That’s even in the constitution,” Tapia said. “The danger is that China has unrestricted access to our sensitive and national security information if it requests it.”
It is estimated that by 2025, approximately 12% of mobile internet connections in Latin America will be via 5G technology. But a more optimistic goal is for the region’s biggest economies, such as Brazil and Mexico, to reach 20% connectivity rates by the same date, German market research platform Statista noted.
Government is the key to this path. “There are two reasons why they do it.” [states] We are accessing Huawei’s 5G services,” Tapia said. “One is the low cost, but unfortunately the security is very low, and the other is the speed of change at the technological level in the world.”
The problem with these agreements is that they become permanent, Tapia added. “Therein lies the danger, because there is no law to override agreements with some governments in Latin America that are ideologically allied with China,” he said.
vision of democracy
U.S. authorities’ concerns about Huawei equipment go back a long way. In 2012, the House Intelligence Committee warned in a lengthy report that Huawei’s communications equipment could be used for espionage in the United States and urged companies not to do business with Huawei. In 2017, U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Huawei equipment could interfere with highly restricted Department of Defense communications, including communications regarding U.S. nuclear weapons. CNN report.
Since then, the Chinese company has been effectively banned from the United States because it poses a national security risk. Other countries have followed suit, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Additionally, the United States imposed a series of restrictions on Huawei after it was suspected of stealing trade secrets, circumventing a U.S. ban on technology transfers to Iran, and being part of the Chinese intelligence community. voice of america (VOA) report.
These regulations have cut off chip supplies to Huawei from U.S. companies since 2019 and cut off Huawei’s access to U.S. technology tools to design its own chips and have partners manufacture them. . VOA report.US warns partners around the world and in Latin America not to adopt Huawei’s 5G technology as unsafe, German Radio International D.W. report.
“Chinese companies, in this case Huawei, are companies that do not have citizens’ data protection in their philosophical framework and in their creation. Therefore, they are not trustworthy companies,” said Supporting Strengthening Democracy Through Technology. said Gastón Massari, president of Argentina’s non-governmental technology organization Governanza. D.W..
“What if there were other 5G options?” [other than Huawei]Even if it’s expensive, [citizens and governments] It will avoid the risk of Chinese espionage,” Tapia said.
new lockdown
To date, 10 European countries have also banned or restricted Huawei from their 5G networks. CNBC report. In early June, EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton called on more member states to exclude Huawei and other high-risk suppliers from their 5G networks.
In late May, Portugal became one of the latest countries to block Huawei technology from its market, and Germany is also considering the move, Bloomberg reported.
“Huawei 5G is not a good option for the Latin American region,” Tapia emphasized.
5G will virtually connect all technological systems and environments, including strategic systems and environments such as missile control and nuclear power plants, Argentine media said. Vision Desarolista report. In a society that relies heavily on communications infrastructure, a 5G network outage or disruption would have as big an impact as a widespread power outage.
” [Latin American] Countries deciding on contracts with Huawei 5G must be clear about protecting their democratic institutions. Otherwise, it will fall into the hands of China, which is against the democratic system. “To fall into the hands of Chinese technology is to lose your privacy,” Tapia concluded. “Plus, everything produced in China is cheap and of poor quality.”
