SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Agencies): As geopolitical tensions continue to flare up in the South-East Asian region, encroachment into the cyberspace of these countries is emerging as another critical frontier.
The implementation of 5G technology, designed to increase speed, reduce latency, and improve flexibility of wireless services is being touted as key critical infrastructure which will help boost development in the region but concerns increase as state owned companies with dubious security records vie for market share.
China is pushing hard to build neighbouring Southeast Asia’s 5G network infrastructure. Indonesia and the Philippines, the region’s two most populated nations, are relying on Chinese telecom companies to help develop their 5G networks.
The Philippines’ decision to allow Huawei equipment in its 5G networks in the context of the 2019 US ban of Huawei amid rising U.S.-China tensions are potentially problematic for the Philippines’ foreign relations and domestic politics.
Some Huawei critics point to the fact that, according to Chinese law, Huawei executives would not be able to refuse Beijing’s requests for private user data and other sensitive information.
Notably, Article Seven of China’s National Intelligence Law requires Chinese corporations and citizens alike to co-operate with “state intelligence work.”
Huawei is also bidding to build Thailand’s 5G infrastructure. The Chinese telecom giant, which maintains thousands of staff in the kingdom, invested 475 million baht (US$ 14 million) last year to establish a “5G ecosystem” innovation centre in partnership with the Digital Economy and Society Ministry (DES).
A recent change at the DES ministry’s top and local Gulf Energy Development’s tender offer to buy the nation’s top mobile provider AIS from Singapore’s Singtel, however, has raised new questions about the direction of the nation’s 5G rollout.
Ericsson is also bidding to help build the kingdom’s 5G networks.
Malaysia is facing a similar dilemma - having already engaged Swedish telecom firm Ericsson to an end-to-end network across the country in conjunction with the state-owned Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), but pressure remains high to drop its single wholesale network and allow for other companies to enter its market.
Former Senior Research Officer Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) Samirul Ariff Othman cautioned that such a decision would inevitably harm the credibility of the government as a growing number of countries have banned Huawei’s 5G technology.
“Outwardly Malaysia claims to be neutral in the face of the US-China tensions but certain moves such as the continuation of controversial infrastructure projects has put a dent in that stand.
Now if the government caves into pressure to allow a ‘second’ technology provider which will certainly be Huawei or ZTE either directly or indirectly, that neutrality will be called into question.
“This will affect Malaysia’s ability to do business with its traditional Western partners over security concerns that include “back doors” that could allow for spying, putting at risk pre-existing intelligence-sharing and strategic tie-ups with Western powers. This will certainly put off investors from those countries,” he said.
Huawei was edged out in Singapore after Singtel and the StarHub–M1 joint venture decided to partner with Ericsson and Nokia respectively to build the city-state’s standalone 5G network.
Singapore is also relatively vocal in expressing a strategic need to balance both US and Chinese influence regionally.
In Vietnam, though, major mobile carriers have explored 5G collaborations with Ericsson and Nokia, but not with Huawei including the largest among them, Viettel, excluding Huawei equipment from even its current 4G network.
Observers expect that Vietnamese carriers will err on the side of caution when they sign commercial 5G agreements. China and Vietnam fought a brief but bloody war 40 years ago, and Hanoi has watched warily as its northern neighbour’s territorial and military ambitions have grown ever since.
“The whole world needs to be careful with China,” said Maj. Gen. Le Van Cuong, the former director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. “If a superpower like America regards China as a cybersecurity threat, then of course Vietnam has to.”
