NATO’s head said the alliance was carrying out consultations with member states regarding to this issue
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is carrying out an assessment of the potential security implications in the implementation of 5G equipment by Chinese vendors, international press reported NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as saying.
Stoltenberg said that allies are “consulting closely on this issue, including on the security aspects on investments in 5G networks.”
“NATO allies have expressed their concerns over Huawei and their role in providing 5G infrastructure,” he said. “NATO takes these concerns very seriously.”
“We will now assess the issue and find out how NATO, in the best way possible, can address the challenges in terms of investments into 5G infrastructure,” Stoltenberg added.
U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, had recently said that NATO may cut communications with its German counterparts if Germany allowed Huawei to take part in 5G contracts.
NATO members include 29 countries, mainly in Europe and North America.
The Trump administration also recently warned the German government that intelligence information sharing will be limited if the German authorities allow Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei to participate in 5G infrastructure contracts. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell sent a recent letter to the German authorities saying that allowing the participation of Huawei or other Chinese equipment vendors in Germany’s 5G projects would mean the U.S. won’t be able to maintain the same level of cooperation with German security agencies.
Earlier this week, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the country expects to define its own security strategy for the deployment of 5G infrastructure. Merkel said that the German government was focused on providing guarantees for the security of digital networks, including the 5G mobile infrastructure.
“Security, particularly when it comes to the expansion of the 5G network, but also elsewhere in the digital area, is a very important concern for the German government, so we are defining our standards for ourselves,” Merkel said.
She also said that the government would discuss security concerns with partners in Europe as well as with appropriate government offices in the U.S.
Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier recently said the country had no intention to ban Huawei from building 5G networks in the country but highlighted that stricter security measures will be adopted for all vendors willing to take part in future network deployments in the country.
