Huawei controversy: Britain tries to continue the internal and external variable

Posted by qianjiu on June 6th, 2019

US President Trump paid a three-day state visit to the UK. Britain’s independent foreign policy has not only diverged from the United States on some international issues. On the issue of how to deal with China’s internal affairs and diplomacy with China, the situation of maintaining distance between the two countries has become more apparent.

On the issue of support for Huawei in the United Kingdom, the differences between the United Kingdom and the United States have been clarified as early as Trump’s visit, reflecting the political economy of the United States and China in Britain’s first and second largest economies in the trade war. Wrestling.

At the same time, some analysts pointed out that as the ruling Conservative Party is about to change its leader, it will soon launch a new prime minister to replace Teresa May (Wen Cuishan), so the time for the UK to make a final decision on Huawei's 5G participation is very high. It may be further postponed; in addition, because several prime minister competitors have made it clear that the US ban on Huawei is likely to force the British government to reconsider Huawei's decision, so whether Huawei can continue to participate in the UK's 5G construction, there will be variables again.

Huawei and technology competition
So far, despite the enormous pressure on the United States to explicitly ask the United Kingdom to block Huawei, there are still differences within the UK on how to deal with Huawei. The British government has refused to join the United States to contain international operations of China's telecommunications giant Huawei.

Before Trump's visit to the UK, the former British Defense Minister Williamson, who favored US policy, even discussed the preparations for the British National Security Council to allow Huawei to participate in the top secrets of the UK's 5G construction and publicly leaked it to the media, making the US's pressure on the UK steep. increase. Williamson was immediately dismissed by the British Prime Minister.

As early as the Cameron government in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom violated the US strategy of rejecting the China Belt and Road, and took the lead in joining the sponsoring country of the ADB, a strategic tool for China and the United States, which has been called for by the United States. It has played a huge leading role in the West. While the United States accused Huawei of being a spy tool for the Chinese government, the Cameron government publicly supported Huawei in the United Kingdom, which enabled the United Kingdom to open up Huawei's important overseas markets in the West, setting up R&D centers, Huawei's technology personnel in the UK, Huawei and the rest of the UK. The cooperation of technology companies has also made important contributions to the development of Huawei.

Huawei's leading position in the 5G field seems to have become part of the UK's local technology. When the US categorically demanded that Huawei be banned, many people in the political, scientific, and commercial fields in the UK were embarrassed.

When asked by Huawei and cyber espionage, Ben Wallace, the Minister of State for Security Affairs of the British Government, said that as a British, he always believed in fairness, so foreign investment and foreign companies should be allowed to obtain fair (market) competition opportunities. He also stressed that no final decision has been made on Huawei's problems.

Haig, who once served as the British foreign minister, believed that he should agree with Washington’s request and take a tough stance against Huawei.

The British Prime Minister’s Office stressed that the decision to allow Huawei to participate in the UK’s 5G network construction will be made from an objective, realistic and technological perspective.

British politicians high-profile protest against Trump
Although the British royal family and the government gave Trump the highest standard of state courtesy, President Trump’s massive mass protests have greatly reduced courtesy to a certain extent, reflecting the fact that the British political elite exists in the post-Brexit deadlock situation. Deep disagreement.

Comparing the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Britain and the expectation that bilateral economic relations will enter the "Golden Age" in 2015, President Trump encountered a large scale of protests, a high level of protesters, and a wide range of protests. The difference is obvious.

Not only did it clearly indicate a state visit against Trump, London Mayor Sadik Khan confronted the US president on social media before Trump arrived; the two leading opposition Labor Party leaders, Corbin, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Kabul, the British House of Commons Speaker Boko, even refused to attend the Queen's banquet for President Trump at Buckingham Palace.

During the three days of Trump's visit, London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh and other major cities in the UK organized protests.

Why is Trump clearly opposed by so many elites in the UK? One important reason is that his words and deeds are seen as gross interference in the British internal affairs. So what are the British ruling elites who clearly feel that the internal affairs do not want US intervention?

Prime Minister and EU policy
Trump, who was accused of populism, had been and was seen as a politician who had long promoted the Brexit before the election of the US president. For example, the British Brexit Party was established in 2019, which was a victory in the European Parliament. Farage is in close contact.

Trump has publicly stated to the British media that the former British Foreign Secretary Johnson, who advocates Brexit, is the best candidate for the British Prime Minister.

In terms of EU policy, Trump regards British-European relations as a slap in the face, bluntly suggesting that the British Prime Minister should not take into account the tens of billions of pounds of bribes to be paid to the EU in accordance with EU law, or sue the EU.

At the press conference after the end of talks with a group of senior British officials such as the current British Prime Minister Teresa May, Trump spoke of the opposition leader Corbin, not only demeaning that Corbin was a passive person, or even said Corbin wants to see him but he refuses to meet. This is naturally seen as a gross interference in the internal affairs of the United Kingdom, where it is possible to hold general elections and many people in the Labour Party hope that the party will come to power through the general election.

Climate change, royal family members, universal health care
The UK has played an important role in research and international promotion in the field of climate change and is an important driving force for the UN Paris Climate Agreement. The UK's national industrial policy has also made major adjustments based on preventing climate change and saving energy and reducing emissions. For example, the UK has clearly stipulated regulations for raising taxes on diesel vehicles in the energy automobile industry.

However, Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement after he took office has made the international community, including those in the UK climate change field, stunned.

Some media reports that Trump has made a fuss about women. Megan, who has not yet become a king of the United Kingdom, has criticized him for discriminating against women. Trump also believes in the low quality of Megan, which makes many British people who support the royal family and women’s rights groups feel uncomfortable. .

At the press conference, when asked about the future British-American trade relationship after the Brexit, Trump confirmed that the British public health care system is a bargaining chip, which is likely to make the majority of the British civilians relying on the public health system. The working class has to take a breath.