THE TTALK QUOTES


On Global Trade & Investment
Published Three Times a Week (with occasional bonus quotes) by
The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.
Washington, DC  Tel: 202-559-9316
No.16 of 2020
THURSDAY, MARCH 5 2020

Click HERE for Tuesday's quote on the Tata Group and U.S. Workforce Training.
HUAWEI: A QUESTION FOR BRITAIN'S FOREIGN SECRETARY

 "How would you feel if the Russians laid down infrastructure in your own networks? That's how we [Australians] feel about Huawei."

Anthony Byrne, MP
A Member of Australia's House of Representatives
February 6, 2020
CONTEXT
Anthony Byrne is a Labor MP from the State of Victoria, Australia, and he is a co-chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The UK’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, met with members of that committee during his trip to Australia last month. Today’s featured quote was, according to various press reports, part of Mr. Byrne’s message to Mr. Raab.  At this point, a few dates might be helpful.

January 28 , 2020 – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces that the Chinese telecommunications behemoth Huawei will be allowed as a supplier for part of Britain’s 5G network.

January 28 , 2020 – The now famous telephone call between President Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson . According to the Financial Times report on the call, Mr. Trump was “apoplectic” over the Prime Minister’s decision.

January 31, 2020 – The United Kingdom formally leaves the European Union, setting off the UK’s quest for new agreements with important trading partners, including both the United States and Australia.

February 5 , 2020 – UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs begins his two-day visit in Australia, with a view to paving the way for UK-Australia free trade agreement. This is his first overseas trip representing an independent United Kingdom
COMMENT
At some point we shall have to turn to the coronavirus and the issues it has sparked from supply chain disruptions to toilet paper shortages. Our guess is that long after the Covid-19 emergency has passed, the Western alliance – especially countries like the United States, the UK, and Australia – will be wrestling with how to manage the numerous facets of their relationships with China, including of course, the connections with Huawei.

As today’s quote illustrates, President Trump is hardly alone in believing that Boris Johnson took a wrong turn in deciding to allow Huawei to participate in building Britain’s 5G network. Several members of his own party have expressed similar concerns and so, for that matter, has House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  (And, to say the least, she doesn’t agree with the President on much.)

But there are other voices as well. Yesterday, for example, The Australian ran a story with quotes from the outgoing chairman of Huawei Australia, former Australian Rear Admiral John Lord . He characterized Australia’s 2019 decision to ban Huawei from its 5G network as “really sad for Australia.” 

***

We’ll end this on a somewhat lighter note. Were you to ask, “Is there no escape from the Huawei controversies?” we might answer, “Yes, it’s Switzerland, where the cows seem quite contented with their Huawei ‘fitbits’” They wear them around their necks where those wonderful old cow bells used to hang. These Huawei devices, we have read, allow “farmers to get complete control and insight into their (the cows’) health conditions at any time and from any place.”
SOURCES & LINKS
A Meeting with Australian MPs is a Sydney Morning Herald report on Dominic Raab’s discussion with members of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. This was the source for today’s featured quote.

About Anthony Byrne is the Wikipedia entry from this member of Australia’s House of Representatives and our source for some of the biographical details mentioned above. 

A Difficult Telephone Call is a link to the February 6 Financial Times story on the January 28 call between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, following the announcement by the UK that Huawei will be allowed to participate in building the UK’s 5G network.

Fitbit for Cows takes you to the South China Morning Post Story on this latest accessory for Swiss cows.
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