China Bandwidth

EU Tech dilemma, boosting China's strength in cyberspace, China is world's leading networked nation, algorithm verification of universal quantum computer, Huawei returns to 5G phones

Jul 18, 2023

UPDATE: Since the Trump administration launched its trade and tech war on China, no evidence whatsoever has been revealed by state-led investigations into US allegations that Huawei poses a security threat to national or global communication networks. Nevertheless, the US government has preferred economic warfare, including sanctions, restrictions, tariffs and national security designations, over free markets.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the need to thoroughly implement the important guidelines of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on boosting China's strength in cyberspace, and to vigorously advance the high-quality development of the work on cybersecurity and informatization.

At Huawei's sprawling installation at last month's Mobile World Congress, a forest of flat panel screens advertised the Chinese telecom giant's offerings in 5G mobile broadband and its application to industries ranging from manufacturing to health care. One panel proclaimed that telephone companies installed 171 private 5G networks for businesses last year, up from 64 in 2021. I asked the Huawei employee manning the display, "Is that worldwide, or just outside China?" "Oh, that's outside China," he replied. "In China, there are more than 10,000, and 60 percent of them are in manufacturing."

China has achieved the country's first algorithm verification of communication network optimization based on a universal quantum computer, according to the Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center in east China's Anhui province.

China's Huawei Technologies is returning to the 5G smartphone industry by the end of this year, according to research firms, signalling a comeback after a U.S. ban on equipment sales decimated its consumer electronics business.

HUAWEI Persecution Poses EU Dilemma

By Dr. Digby James Wren

Since the Trump administration launched its trade and tech war on China, no evidence whatsoever has been revealed by state-led investigations into US allegations that Huawei poses a security threat to national or global communication networks. Nevertheless, the US government has preferred economic warfare, including sanctions, restrictions, tariffs and national security designations, over free markets. While the US has been caught red-handed tapping into telecommunications networks in EU countries, it has leveraged its growing influence over the EU to persecute Huawei in its attempt to regain proportional control over global telecommunication supply chains and networks and reimpose US and EU technical and commercial dominance. Rather than reinvigorating its debt loaded economy by reducing sanctions, tariffs and illegal secondary and third-party bans on technology exports, the Biden administration has doubled down on coercive commercial trade policy under the guise of national security, while simultaneously providing massive subsidies to telecommunications companies to on-shore in the US and hastened EU de-industrialisation.

The most recent violation of international economic and trade rules emanates from Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Markets, who has designated both Huawei and ZTE as high-risk vendors (HRV). In a strongly worded statement Huawei rejected the actions of Thierry Breton and comments made by EU Commission representatives. Huawei’s statement noted that the high-risk (HRV) designation was not based on a verified, transparent, objective and technical assessment of 5G networks. To date, only 10 of the 27 EU member countries, under pressure from both Washington and Brussels, have restricted or banned Huawei from their 5G networks, including Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, plus the UK. These states are using their leverage within the EU to extend US sanctions on Huawei network and 5G equipment.

Huawei immediately argued that the ‘High-Risk Vendor’ designation goes against free trade principles and that that such restrictions could “pose serious economic and social risks,” stifling innovation and distorting the EU market. While Huawei understands the European Commission’s concern to protect cybersecurity publicly singling out an individual entity as ‘HRV’ without legal basis is against principles of free trade. It is of paramount importance to emphasize that the discriminatory ‘HRV’ assessment shall not be applied to any vendor without justified procedure and adequate hearing. As an economic operator in the EU, Huawei holds procedural and substantial rights and should be protected under the EU and Member States’ laws as well as their international commitments. Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, echoed these sentiments, stating that the ban violates WTO rules and could seriously impact the business communities in both regions.

During Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s recent visit to the EU, the German government rejected the call from the European Commission to exclude Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE from Germany’s telecommunications architecture. EU Commission President Ursula von de Leyen has been a leading voice for de-risking (decoupling) with China, but these arguments are emotional calls not based in economic realities. At a time when Germany and the EU have fallen into economic recession, with the UK and United States predicted to follow, the enormous cost of excluding Huawei and decommissioning installed Huawei hardware from national networks can only exacerbate the already fragile economies of EU member states.

Several telecom executives and government regulators in Germany and Austria are now questioning the EU’s conclusions regarding cybersecurity risks. The Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR), expressed no security concerns regarding Chinese telecom firms noting that network operators are still free to use components from Huawei or ZTE for 5G network expansion. Research from Oxford Economics suggests that restricting a key supplier of 5G infrastructure across the European member states would increase total 5G investment costs by almost €3 billion per year over the next decade. Further research by Barclay’s estimates the cost of removing Huawei gear in the Deutsche Telekom network at around US$1.2 billion, with Telefonica and Vodafone having to spend at least US$750,000 each to remove their Chinese supplied equipment.

While the European Commission is trying to shut Chinese vendors out of European markets, China appears to be moving in the opposite direction. European network operators Nokia and Ericsson were recently awarded around 16 percent of a large China Mobile contract. This is double the previous market share held by European telecoms operators in China. The future of 5G development in Europe hangs in the balance, as does the EU's trade and political relations with China. It's a scenario that stakeholders around the world will be monitoring closely.

Read more here.

Xi Jinping stresses cybersecurity

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a recent instruction on the work of cybersecurity and informatization.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has achieved significant progress in the cybersecurity and informatization work, with the Party's leadership of the work strengthened across the board, Xi said.

He said that China has put in place a system for integrated cyberspace management, and its system and capacity for cybersecurity have been constantly improving.

The country has accelerated its efforts to boost self-reliance and strength in science and technology while strengthening law-based governance of cyberspace, Xi said, adding that new strides have been made in boosting China's strength in cyberspace.

He said the important role of the cybersecurity and informatization work is increasingly prominent in the new era.

Xi stressed adherence to several principles, including the Party exercising leadership over cyberspace affairs, developing cyberspace affairs for the people, and taking a path of internet governance with Chinese characteristics.

He also underscored the need to coordinate development and security, strengthen the capability to ensure cybersecurity of the country, and promote building a community of a shared future in cyberspace.

Vigorous efforts should be made to advance the high-quality development of the cybersecurity and informatization undertakings, and make new achievements in boosting China's strength in cyberspace, thus making new contributions to building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing national rejuvenation on all fronts, Xi said in the instruction.

A national meeting on work concerning cybersecurity and informatization was held from Friday to Saturday in Beijing.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting and made a speech.

Xi's instruction was conveyed by Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier, who also attended the meeting.

Xi's instruction has charted the course for advancing the cybersecurity and informatization work in the new era, and must be implemented, Cai said.

Cai called for solid efforts to implement the

strategic arrangements made at the 20th CPC National Congress regarding the cybersecurity and informatization work.

In his summary speech, Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, called for promoting high-quality development of the cybersecurity and informatization work to provide strong support for building China into a great country and achieving national rejuvenation.

Read more here.

China's Telecoms Leadership

By David P. Goldman

We saw what soft power can do on March 10 when Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China announced that Beijing had mediated a resumption of diplomatic relations between the two Persian Gulf rivals. China's military presence in the Middle East is negligible compared to America's, but the Gulf States have embraced Beijing's vision of digital transformation. The Iran-Saudi rapprochement should be a wake-up call for Washington. China's soft power supported a diplomatic exploit that makes Beijing a major actor in the region.

China not only got a jump on the West in 5G network quantity—with 70 percent of the world's installed capacity—and quality—with download speeds roughly triple those in the U.S. It also has a large and growing lead in so-called 5G2B, or 5G to business applications, which apply artificial intelligence solutions for everything from unloading freighters to manufacturing robotics.

The Western competition is fragmented, underinvested, and poorly positioned to compete with China. The situation begs for urgent action by Western governments.

Mobile broadband drives China's booming exports to the developing world. In January 2019, China exported $40 billion to the Global South and nearly twice as much, $74 billion, to the U.S. and Europe. By November 2022, the developing-world total had risen to $75 billion, matching China's exports to the U.S. and Europe that month. While China's exports shrank by 9 percent in dollar terms during 2022, exports to Southeast Asia surged by 20 percent.

The digital economy, wrote the International Monetary Fund in a January 9 blog post, presents a "promising path for boosting Asia's productivity," adding, "Digital technologies can increase the efficiency of the public and private sectors, expand financial inclusion, improve access to education, and open new markets by allowing companies to serve distant customers."

China has taken a lead in digital technology, namely the application of broadband and AI to manufacturing, logistics, and services. Beijing has proclaimed its intent to dominate AI-driven technology, and the data show that it's not blowing smoke.

China's prowess in telecom infrastructure and applications amplifies its soft power around the world. Indonesia, Turkey, Bangladesh, Thailand, and other Asian countries are building out their digital infrastructure with Chinese technology. Even India's telecom providers depend on Chinese hardware, despite the strategic tension between New Delhi and Beijing.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are spending billions on Chinese technology, including 5G broadband networks and AI-enhanced solar power. Turkey's trade with China has doubled in volume since 2020, with financing from Beijing that helped pull Turkey back from the brink of hyperinflation.

Earlier in 2022, the United Arab Emirates broke off negotiations to buy America's F-35 stealth fighter after Washington demanded that the UAE exclude 5G mobile broadband systems that it had planned to buy from Huawei. The UAE stuck to its deal with Huawei and bought 80 French Rafale fighters instead.

Huawei's Red Sea Project in Saudi Arabia, signed in 2019, is building an AI-enabled solar power network that will provide all the power for a city of one million people.

It's clear that American-led efforts to suppress China's industry leadership have failed. Restricting rivals' access to technology has never worked in the long term, and in this case, it hasn't worked in the short term, either. Without access to high-end chips, Huawei's handset business withered. But broadband infrastructure and AI business applications run on older chips that China can produce at home. Handsets are becoming a commodity business, while the full economic potential of broadband will be embodied in business applications.

Think of railroads, the transformative technology of the mid-19th century. Whether the train traveled at 40 miles an hour or 80 miles an hour wasn't a decisive issue. Neither is the clock speed of computer chips.

We need to compete head-on with China's global leadership in 5G broadband and beyond. In 2017 the Trump administration rejected a proposed plan for a national 5G program. Now we require a program that marshals the combined resources of the West.

The United States should lead a consortium of firms from friendly countries including Sweden, Finland, South Korea, and Japan to create products that can compete with China's offerings. Huawei alone spent $22 billion on R&D last year, compared to $4.8 billion for Nokia and $4.7 billion for Ericsson, its two largest competitors. Huawei's R&D budget, moreover, has twice the punch in China, where costs are much lower than in the West.

Western governments should encourage joint product development by key corporations, subsidise R&D in broadband and its business applications, and establish global standards for 5G and beyond.

Read more here.

Pan Jianwei, Father of China’s Quantum Computing Program

China’s quantum future

Pan Jianwei, an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences said the combination of high-orbit and low-orbit satellites will build a wide-area quantum communication network.”

“As we enter the fierce international competition, high-end instruments and equipment materials are not easy to import. If we cannot achieve independent research and development for these devices, it is difficult for us to achieve high-level technology self-reliance,” Pan said.

China has made great progress in science and technology to push the country to the forefront of scientific research in the world in quantum physics, quantum technology, high energy physics and astrophysics. Looking into the future and the prospect of the universal quantum computing, Pan said he expected major progress to be made in quantum chemistry, material design, and quantum simulation.

One key example is China Mobile’s 5G operation and 6G research and development. Compared with 5G, 6G will face computing problems such as larger-scale business optimization, network optimization, signal processing and machine learning, bringing about great pressure to the classical computation and algorithms, said Cui Chunfeng, an official from the China Mobile Research Institution (CMRI).

The tremendous computing power is the main characteristic of quantum computers. "We try to start from small-scale problems in some typical scenarios to evaluate and verify the application feasibility of quantum computing in communication networks, especially in 6G," Cui said.

The CMRI and the Origin Quantum Computing Technology Corporation (Origin Quantum) signed a cooperation memorandum on June 30 to jointly promote the integration of quantum computing into the communication network and arithmetic network as the core of the mobile information network.

Aiming at the optimization of large-scale antenna parameters of 5G base stations, the Origin Quantum has preliminarily proved the feasibility of quantum algorithm in the specific problem through effective modeling, algorithm design and real-machine verification, said Dou Manghan, director of the software center of the Origin Quantum.

He noted that the company is the country's first case of using quantum computers with real machines for communication network algorithm verification, achieving a good start for the application of quantum computing.

In the future, China Mobile will design quantum algorithms with better performance, boost the integrated development of quantum computing and communication industry, and explore a leapfrog path for the development of mobile information networks, Cui said.

The Return of Huawei

By David Kirton (edited)

Huawei should be able to procure 5G chips domestically using its own advances in semiconductor design tools along with chipmaking from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (SMIC).

A return to the 5G phone market would mark a victory for the company that for almost three years said it was in "survival" mode. Huawei's consumer business revenue peaked at 483 billion yuan ($67 billion) in 2020, before plummeting by almost 50% a year later.

The Shenzhen-based tech giant shipped 240.6 million smartphones worldwide in 2019, but fell from most rankings worldwide following rounds of U.S. restrictions, that also began in 2019, which cut its access to chipmaking tools essential for producing its most advanced models. However, according to consultancy Canalys, Huawei’s sales have rebounded to a 10% market share in China in the first quarter of 2023.

The China Securities Journal reported Huawei had raised its 2023 mobile shipment target to 40 million units from 30 million at the start of the year, without referencing a return to 5G phones. Huawei could produce 5G versions of flagship models like the iPhone rival P60 this year, with new launches likely in early 2024.

In March of 2023 Huawei announced it had made breakthroughs in electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips produced at and above 14 nanometre (nm) technology. Huawei's EDA software could can be used with SMIC's N+1 manufacturing process. SMIC has managed to produce 7 nm chips and Huawei is receiving chip components of 7 nm, the powerful semiconductors typically used in 5G phones.

This time around Huawei’s total supply chain is free from US designs, processes and products. Expect a return of Huawei 5g phones over the next two years as design, production and the Harmony OS operating system gain traction globally.

Read more here.

Long Mekong

Discussion about this post