Sweden faces potential Chinese retaliation over Huawei 5G ban

LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images

Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Chinese ministry of commerce said at a regular press conference that China will take all necessary measures in response to Sweden’s decision to ban Huawei Technologies from its 5G networks. In addition, the spokesman accused Sweden of violating the World Trade Organization rules and using national security justifications as the reason for the ban.

Gao Feng said that China urges Sweden to immediately correct the mistake and come up with a solution to preserve China-Sweden economic and trade cooperation.

China’s President Xi Jinping and EU leaders concluded “in principle” an investment deal with China on 30 December. Gao Feng’s statement comes just before the European Union is due to release part of the text of the deal. Swedish telecom giant Ericsson is one of the very few non-Chinese telecom companies to operate in the Chinese cyber sector and the threat from Beijing raises concern as Ericsson is without doubt vulnerable to Chinese retaliation.

Jerker Hellström, director of the Swedish Center for China Studies says of the threat from Beijing that is also a signal to other countries, basically telling Finland and Germany to make the right decision.

Read the full article here

About Mette Larsen

Guest writer

View all posts by Mette Larsen

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *