WASHINGTON – Heritage Senior Research Fellow Klon Kitchen and Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, released the following comments Monday as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson nears a decision on whether to allow Chinese companies to participate in building Britain’s new 5G network:

“Our close friends in Britain have a storied history of standing against evil on the world stage, refusing to back down even if doing so might have been the easier path. Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a similar choice this week in determining who will build the backbone of Britain’s 5G network.

 

“If the British government grants the Chinese Communist Party, through state-owned companies like Huawei, access to its 5G network, Britain will not just be allowing the fox in the henhouse – it will be allowing the foxes to build the henhouse.

 

“Throughout his career, Johnson has shown strength and resolve when faced with difficult challenges – as mayor of London, as a leader in the campaign for Brexit, and in the negotiations with a bureaucratic and adversarial European Union. It is absolutely vital he display that same resolve now in the face of the Chinese cyber threat. The consequences of his choice will impact not only the security of the United Kingdom, but the long-term strength of the U.S.-U.K. Special Relationship.”

For more on the national security threat posed by Chinese companies like Huawei: The U.S. Must Treat China as a National Security Threat to 5G Networks