On January 28, 2020, the British government concluded its security assessment on the nation’s 5G infrastructure buildout. At the center of Downing Street’s internal deliberations was Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, and the implications of allowing an entity with connections to the Chinese government into its next-generation networks. The timing of the decision coincided with “Brexit,” the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, which saddled Britain with the need to negotiate a series of new bilateral free trade agreements, most urgently with Washington and Beijing. But Britain’s commercial reliance on China’s market clashed with its longstanding intelligence partnership with the Five Eyes (FVEY) countries – the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – further politicizing the review...
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