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Earlier this month, Huawei was the subject of a series of indictments by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) accusing the telecom of racketeering, stealing state secrets and aiding rogue nations – including Iran and North Korea – in their domestic espionage efforts. .
This prompted the US to press Huawei further, threatening to end information and intelligence sharing with countries that allow the company access to its telecommunications systems. Speaking to the press in Germany, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the use of the telecom could disrupt the exchange of information between the countries.
“The concern still remains that if countries choose to go the Huawei route, it could jeopardize all of the information sharing and intelligence that we’ve been talking about,” Mr. Esper said.
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"And that would undermine the alliance, or at least our relationship with that country."
The US refusal to allow Huawei to participate in Western telecommunications means the world may soon see a "split web" - a paradigm in which cyberspace is controlled and regulated by different entities.
"The fear has grown that the global internet will break up into three or more distinct ecosystems," John Chipman, director general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the WEF in January.
"The continuation of a single Internet will mean that all countries, including China, have a vested interest in the continuation of the global economy that it supports." The bifurcation of the internet – sometimes called the 'splinternet' – could see two competing models.”
This can lead to the creation of separate supply chains and separate information and communication technologies built to different standards, each seeking to win business from the other. The developing world – which prioritizes internal security – may also find that the developing world prefers the Chinese model.
"Clearly, banning Chinese technology on US and allied networks raises the risk of network fragmentation," Mr Chipman said.
And with a federal judge now throwing out a lawsuit from Huawei challenging a US decision to ban the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment, it looks like the tech war is only escalating.