Citing risks of foreign interference and hacking, Australia banned Chinese telecoms company Huawei from supplying equipment to the country’s upgraded mobile network. The U.S. recently made a similar ban on ZTE Corp as governments question the connections and level of embeddedness of the Chinese government within these companies. The Australian government released a statement that companies “likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government” would compromise the country’s network and create security risks. Chinese laws require the collaboration of companies with national intelligence goals, and analysts say that this can make these companies an extension of state intelligence collection services. Australia “made a decision to spend more money to have more control over their national communication system, because they’re up against a competitor that will sacrifice near-term margin for long-term intelligence advantage,” said VP with cybersecurity firm FireEye.
Source: Australia bans China’s Huawei from mobile network project, angers Beijing | Reuters