Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc in the German parliament are not opposed to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei playing a role in developing Germany’s 5G infrastructure, according to a document seen by dpa.
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The position paper, which is to be discussed and finalized by the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their CSU Bavarian sister party on Tuesday, says Europe’s biggest economy should not exclude Huawei from projects to build the newest standard in super-fast internet.
Lawmakers from Germany’s strongest political bloc want critical components of the infrastructure to comply with strict security requirements. But the paper as it currently stands does not foresee a veto for parliament on parts suppliers.
The CDU and CSU group proposes setting up a catalogue of security standards to be enforced by the relevant authorities, with the power to reject contractors if there is a conflict with overriding public interests, in particular security policy interests.
It calls on the coalition government, which consists of the conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), to finish legislation setting out the security requirements.
The United States has lobbied intensely for its allies to ban the Chinese state-aligned Huawei from 5G projects due to concerns that its technology could be used for espionage.
In January, Britain defied U.S. pressure, saying that Huawei would be allowed to take a limited role in developing its 5G networks.