Bolsonaro Considers Banning Huawei from Brazil’s 5G Network

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro is considering banning Huawei from providing components for the future 5G network in Brazil because he views China as a global threat to data privacy and country sovereignty, according to a senior government official. The President is suspicious of the Asian giant, said the source, who is not authorized to publicly address the issue.

The decision has not yet been taken and any such resolution will consider the views of other officials in the government. But the comment exposes Bolsonaro’s ongoing mistrust of the country’s largest trading partner. So far the Brazilian authorities have refrained from saying whether they will give in to pressure from the United States to keep Huawei out of the ultra-fast mobile network to be built in Brazil.

The Brazilian government is downplaying potential Chinese retaliation since the Asian country depends on Brazilian agricultural imports to feed its population, the source said. The perception in Brazil is that other countries that vetoed Huawei from their respective 5G networks have not suffered major consequences, the authority said.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, China’s ambassador to Brazil, Yang Wanming, said the Brazilian decision to block Huawei will define the country’s broader relationship with China. “What is at stake is whether a country can create market rules and a business environment for all companies within the parameters of openness, impartiality, and non-discrimination,” he said.

When questioned, the Planalto Palace forwarded the comment request to the Ministry of Communications. In a note, the Ministry said the 5G auction is about strategic issues of national security and data and that the bid is under debate within the government and among Presidents of the countries involved.

“This is a matter of state, of data security. The decision on the suppliers of telecommunication equipment passes through several government bodies besides the Ministry of Communications, such as the Office of Institutional Security (GSI), the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since this is about national security, it also involves all Presidents of the countries involved with this issue,” reads an excerpt from the Ministry of Communications’ note.

The 5G auction, scheduled for next year, and the partnership with China as a whole, have been the subject of conflicting views within the government. While Vice-President Hamilton Mourão and Minister of Science and Technology Marcos Pontes advocate an open and fair competition for the new mobile network, Bolsonaro has shown much more eagerness over his relationship with Donald Trump’s United States than with China.

Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo has implicitly blamed the Asian country for the Covid-19 pandemic, suggesting at a cabinet meeting in April and writing in his personal blog that the coronavirus has revived “the communist nightmare”. Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, the President’s son, also accused the “Chinese dictatorship” of being responsible for the pandemic, saying that “the fault lies with China.”

Brazil plans to choose a telecommunications company – which in turn may use Chinese or European technology – to build its 5G network by May 2021, Communications Minister Fábio Faria said in a recent interview after the pandemic delayed the bidding process initially scheduled for this year. Faria said the delay turned out to be positive, as it is allowing the government to observe negotiations and vetoes in other countries before making a decision.

China was the destination of 40 percent of Brazilian exports in the first half of the year, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. Sales to the Asian country, mainly of soy, produced more revenue than to the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Middle East together.

Source: Bloomberg