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The regular seminar of the Center for European Studies was held in the online format. The topic of the meeting was “The participation of Huawei in the in the development of 5G networks in the EU countries”.

The main speaker was Junior Researcher for the Center for European Studies of the IMEMO Karina Alievna Gemueva.

In the report there was emphasized that the conflict around the Chinese company Huawei, in which the EU countries were unwittingly drawn, can be considered one of the clearest manifestations of China's growing confrontation with the Western countries in the economic, technological and geopolitical spheres. The growing dissatisfaction with the certain aspects of the bilateral interaction with China and the deep contradictions within the European Union itself were revealed during the animated discussions.

It is crucial for Huawei to maintain the dominant position in the EU market not only from a commercial, but also from a strategic point of view. Therefore, it is not surprising that Huawei has taken decisive actions to protect its interests.

The current system of certificatio for radio and telecommunication terminal equipment in the EU countries as well as the future European structure for the certification of cybersecurity of digital products, processes and services, basically, can’t fully guarantee the safety of hardware and software, but can only indicate compliance with certain requirements.

The conflict of interests of business and national security agencies, polarization of opinions among the political elite in the framework of individual EU countries make it difficult to formulate a clear unified position. Besides, the EU countries are under pressure, which varies up to explicit and implicit threats, both from the United States and from China. For example, the actions of the US included the appeals to the officials to exclude the use of Huawei equipment on the basis of the information security risks, and the active promotion of this positions in the media and among the expert community. The unwillingness of the political leaders to accept responsibility for the possible negative consequences of economic, social and political kind can also be the reason for the delay in making a final decision.