Britain's government on Tuesday backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a limited role in the UK's new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing.
Britain said it imposed the ban after U.S. sanctions made it impossible to ensure the security of Huawei equipment, forcing it to start turning to other suppliers for components. The U.S. threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing arrangement with Britain because of concerns Huawei equipment could allow the Chinese government to infiltrate UK networks.
UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the decision would delay the 5G rollout, and cost millions of pounds, but that it had to be done.