Who’s afraid of Huawei? Where Asia stands on China’s 5G tech giant

While much of Southeast Asia has embraced Huawei as the preferred provider of 5G communications equipment, Japan and South Korea seem to be hedging their bets, and India’s implementation of the technology is still a long way off.

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Japan

Japan has found itself at odds with its larger neighbor in recent months over whose equipment will lay the groundwork for the country’s roll out of 5G – the fifth generation of mobile communications technology that has been lauded for its potential to reshape global communications.

In December, Tokyo moved to ban telecoms equipment judged to pose a risk to national security, effectively excluding Huawei and ZTE from the government’s 5G procurement process and echoing similar moves made by Australia and New Zealand amid pressure from the United States, which has been vocal in its appeals to allies to ban the Chinese tech giant.

Japan’s three largest mobile carriers have also excluded Chinese companies from their 5G base stations, according to Kyodo News.

Chinese government officials have warned the restrictions will damage the bilateral relationship.

The issue was repeatedly raised last weekend, when Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono met his counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing. Wang urged Japan to take “concrete action” to improve ties between the two nations.

Photo credit: Kārlis Dambrāns

Huawei already supplies equipment used by Japanese telecom firms KDDI Corp and NTT Docomo in existing networks.

Kazuo Yukawa, a professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Asia University, said Japan might be looking to repair its relationship with China ahead of June’s G20 summit in Osaka. “China has recently attacked the vulnerability of US allies, and Japan may be looking to fend off [Chinese pressure as the G20 nears].”

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the summit will mark the first visit to Japan by a Chinese head of state since 2010.