Merkel sets out conditions for Huawei’s participation in 5G

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Tuesday said Germany needed guarantee that China’s Huawei Technologies would not hand over data to the Chinese State on its participation in 5G network.

Merkel, who was in Tokyo, Japan, said that due to security concerns, it was important to speak to the Chinese government so “the company doesn’t just simply hand the data to the state’’.

She told students in a discussion at Keio University that security was important if firms wanted to work in Germany and that it must be made clear that the Chinese state could not access all the data in Chinese products.

Huawei faces international scrutiny over its ties with the Chinese government and suspicion that Beijing could use Huawei’s technology for spying, which the company denies.

The German government has yet to reach a common stance on whether to follow other countries in excluding Huawei from its market on national security grounds.