Domestic Infrastructure: Chinese Ownership Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Livingston of Parkhead
Main Page: Lord Livingston of Parkhead (Non-affiliated - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Livingston of Parkhead's debates with the Cabinet Office
(5 years, 7 months ago)
Lords ChamberOf course we should work closely with our allies, but it is just worth pointing out that some of our allies have a different legal framework. Australia, for example, has a law saying that telecom operators cannot procure equipment from a company that has extraterritorial jurisdiction. That rules out Chinese companies and many others. We do not have quite that same approach, but, of course, we learn from experience, from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and our other allies.
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the UK has had a much more sophisticated approach to Chinese companies for many years, both in setting up the cyber centre that looks at Huawei source code to understand it, and in recognising that in certain parts of UK networks, such as BT’s core network, it was not appropriate to put it in? It also recognises that much equipment from other countries actually has Chinese components in it, so the position is actually far more sophisticated and nuanced than perhaps were some of the headline statements made in many other countries.