“If the 5G network of the future isn’t there, there’s a good chance electricity supply might be interrupted, water supply might be interrupted, the financial sector or elements of it might be impacted,” said the head of the Australian Signals Directorate. The organization’s role is similar to that of the U.S. National Security Agency. “That’s why it was important to get security right at the start. It was a foundational issue,”
.. Huawei has been accused of spying by U.S. lawmakers and criticized over suspected links to the Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army. Australia was one of the first Western countries to move against the company, barring it as far back as 2012 from supplying equipment for Australia’s high-speed national broadband
.. Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, the 46-year-old daughter of the company’s founder, was detained in Canada earlier this month at the urging of U.S. authorities seeking her extradition as part of an investigation into allegations of sanctions-busting sales to Iran.