As one of the most vocal critics of China's state subsidies, the US is now considering a subsidy package for Huawei's main rivals Nokia and Ericsson to make it more competitive in 5G competition with the Chinese telecomgiant, according to a new report in the Financial Times.
The report says in detail that U.S. officials had already discussed internally the establishment of a subsidy package for Nokia and Ericsson that would include credit lines so that these companies would be able to keep up with the generous terms Huawei offers to customers around the world. Also on the table is the creation of a larger subsidy pool to encourage companies such as Cisco to create 5G antenna masts and other products in the 5G sector that could then compete with Huawei's portfolio.
"We gave up our superiority in the manufacture of telecommunications equipment decades ago, and now we realize that this might not have been the best choice for national security reasons. Almost every department and agency is desperately looking for ways to get back into this game," the Financial Times quotes an official as saying, "If not, Huawei could soon be the only option for anyone who wants to build 5G networks."
It is not without a touch of irony that a subsidy package is proposed to combat Huawei. Huawei's most outlawed critics in the US, such as the Global Cyber Policy Watch, point out that Huawei receives significant subsidies from Beijing, citing this as the reason Huawei should be pushed out of the US market. While Huawei's competitors are already receiving various subsidies, a further increase in these subsidies would in fact even render this argument absurd.
Emotionless, subsidies on all sides are simply a fact in current economic policy, and it is somewhat hypocritical to criticise a competing company simply because it gets it from its own government exactly what you are pumping into the market itself. Boeing, as a company still on a scale above that level, has received tens of billions in government money, but is still criticizing Airbus for receiving the same from the European Union.
It is to be criticised, however, that the EU and the Brussels civil servants seem to be rather complacent in this matter. As there is no specific case to date in which Huawei has been able to prove possible electronic eavesdropping or espionage, the EU is suspending the subsidy discussion or igonrise the topic of confeas. This, too, should certainly give us something to think about in this country.
Source: Financial Times
Kommentieren