Research Notes

Strand Consult supports Deutsche Welle´s view that a fast 5G network from China is a bad deal from a country that restricts freedom of the press and information.

Yesterday Director General Peter Limbourg of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle called Huawei′s 5G plan for Germany a bad deal in an opinion  He described the hypocrisy of a promise of faster information network from Huawei, the Chinese national champion for information technology infrastructure, as China restricts freedom of information and the press using Huawei equipment. He writes,

China does everything it can to block access to information, particularly from the foreign press. So letting a Chinese firm build Germany’s 5G network is naive, to say the least. 

Chinese tech giant Huawei wants to help construct Germany’s 5G network. The new technology will radically increase mobile internet speeds. A Chinese company, in other words, is aiming to bring Germans faster internet access.

Ironically, China’s government has done everything in its power to isolate the country’s internet and social media platforms from the outside world. It has deployed state of the art technology to hamper the ability of Chinese people to learn what is happening in Germany and elsewhere around the globe.

DW’s entire programming, including its Chinese language content, is blocked in China. The Chinese government makes it almost impossible for our journalists to work in the country.

What’s more, China has continued to intensify its internet censorship. Just last week, its government blocked access the websites of German dailies Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Read Limbourg opinion here. Teh media and policymakers should reflect on the wise words of Deutsche Welle’s Director General Peter Limbourg.

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