Chancellor Merz: "Will not allow components from China in 6G network"

Wherever possible, only components from our own production – this is the federal government's plan for German telecommunications networks, which Chancellor Friedrich Merz surprisingly announced on Thursday at the congress of the German Retail Association in Berlin.

"We have decided within the government that we will replace components wherever possible – for example in the 5G network – with components that we produce ourselves," according to consistent media reports citing Merz, including the Handelsblatt. "And we will not allow components from China in the 6G network." Merz did not provide a more precise classification, for example, what is considered "self-produced" according to this standard. The statement is said to have been made during a Q&A session and is not to be found in the transcript of his speech. According to the news channel Bloomberg, Merz also said he wants to bring up the topic at the European Summit for Digital Sovereignty next week.

Talks with industry planned

At the summit, the industry should discuss what can be done not only to become more independent from China, but also from the USA and the major technology companies, Merz is further quoted as saying. However, Merz ruled out a complete decoupling from China. The country is Germany's second-largest trading partner. While China cannot decouple from Germany either, Germany can still do less with China.

Just at the beginning of the month, the Federal Network Agency tightened its rules for components of the 5G network. The regulator argues that 5G networks represent the future backbone of digitized economies, connect billions of systems, and process sensitive information in critical infrastructures (Kritis). According to the Handelsblatt, the CDU, CSU, and SPD last week also agreed on new legislation also agreed on new legislative tightening last week to ban equipment from German telecommunications networks deemed insecure.

"Huawei Clause" enables ban

According to the legally anchored "Huawei Clause", the federal government can prohibit the use of "critical components" in cases of "potential threats to public safety and order." The federal government and the mobile network operators reached a fundamental agreement last year to no longer use technology from Huawei or ZTE for critical components of the radio networks by 2029.

The European Commission also apparently wants to take harsher measures so that member states refrain from using network technology from Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE. These are considered high-risk providers by the Commission due to their proximity to the Chinese state. If it were up to Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, a recommendation to member states that has existed since 2020 should be converted into a legally binding obligation.

(nen)