China will impose retaliatory restrictions on the two largest European telecommunication-equipment manufacturers, the Finnish company Nokia and the Swedish company Ericsson, if the European Union prohibits Huawei from accessing 5G networks in the EU.
China's Ministry of Commerce discussed the export restrictions for Nokia and Ericsson, which will prevent companies from sending their products made in China to other countries. It could seriously harm European vendors.
But these measures will be applied only in the worst case, in which European countries will completely ban the use of equipment from Chinese suppliers to create 5G.
Earlier, the UK authorities announced their intention to abandon Huawei equipment in the national communications infrastructure. From the end of 2020, the country's operators will not be able to purchase 5G products from this manufacturer.
Besides, Huawei 5G equipment should be removed from its networks by the end of 2027. Instead of Huawei, Japanese companies NEC and Fujitsu may be involved in creating a new-generation network in the UK.
Kay Lee
The EU has not yet banned Huawei, but took action in January and issued 5G cybersecurity recommendations that member states can voluntarily adopt to restrict Huawei's service in each country. It is expected that a report on how the 27 member countries adopted these recommendations will be published soon.
