British business leader urges acceptance of Huawei

It is in the United Kingdom's best interests to be inclusive with global companies such as Chinese technology giant Huawei, particularly at a time when globalization has become an irreversible trend, according to a British business leader.

"Banning major global companies is not in our history and banning Huawei would negate all the benefits of China and others looking at long-term investment in the UK market," said Stephen Perry, chairman of The 48 Group Club, an independent business network committed to promoting trade and cultural links between the UK and China.

Perry pointed out that the UK's decision to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was a good example of such behavior.

"We received a lot of pressure to not join from the United States," he said. "In fact, we did join and brought cohesion to the Western nations who were all joining. When we look back, we can see it was a good decision to do so."

Perry said nations are becoming more global and any attempt to roll back history was misplaced, adding:"We now have to develop policies that enable us to be global, and our treatment of Huawei is right up there among the difficult decisions our new government has to make".

The US has been lobbying the UK to boycott Huawei technology over Washington's claims that it could be used to facilitate spying, claims the company has strenuously denied.

"We need to be secure but Huawei is not considered a security threat," Perry said."If I were advising (US) President (Donald) Trump, I would ask Huawei to become more global in its shareholding. ... Having global shareholders does not stop companies being national in their identity. But it helps by having the world invested and benefiting from its success."

Perry was speaking during the "Icebreakers" Annual Chinese New Year Dinner in central London on Tuesday.

The event was jointly hosted by The 48 Group Club, the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, and the China-Britain Business Council and brought together more than 500 guests from the business sectors of both nations.

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, also attended the gala and delivered a speech in which he pointed out how important last year was in terms of China-UK relations.

"It was the 65th anniversary of the China-UK diplomatic relationship at the charge d'affaires level," he said. "Our two countries drew lessons from the extraordinary journey of the past 65 years and made plans for the future."

The ambassador also said China and the UK should expand cooperation on artificial intelligence, big data, clean energy, and the digital economy.

"We could also carry out high-standard, high-quality, and sustainable cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, and take the lead in building a new type of economic globalization, which is open, inclusive, win-win and balanced," he said.

Liu also said he hoped the UK would continue to foster a fair, just, and nondiscriminatory business environment for Chinese companies, including Huawei, that would create sound conditions for deeper cooperation between the nations.