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Boris Johnson allows Chinese firm Huawei a 'peripheral' role in 5G network

CHINESE firm Huawei is to have a “limited” role in Britain’s 5G network, Boris Johnson announced today.

The fudge is a concession to US demands to block the company without fully complying with it.

A meeting of the National Security Council at Downing Street yesterday, chaired by the Prime Minister, decided that “high-risk vendors” such as Huawei should be allowed a peripheral role in the network.

The council has not labelled US firms such as Google “high risk,” despite their record of amassing vast quantities of personal information from users and sharing it with the US government.

US President Donald Trump’s administration and a number of Tory MPs have lobbied against Britain allowing Huawei access as part of the Trump administration’s global trade war against high-tech Chinese firms.

Mr Johnson said Huawei​​​​​​’s presence will be limited to 35 per cent in the access network, which connects devices and equipment to mobile-phone masts.

Labour’s shadow digital, culture & sport secretary Tracy Brabin said the Tories are in a “ludicrous” position of having to choose between Britain’s security concerns and the introduction of 5G because of failing to invest in “home-grown alternatives to Huawei.”

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