5G as Geopolitical Power Struggle: The New Neutral Approach of Balance and Safety in Technology Controlled World Explained through a Case Study of Serbia
Keywords:
Huawei, 5G technology, geopolitics, security, public safety
Abstract
5G is a critical sensitive technology that could endanger public safety. Recent progress of Huawei in the number of patents relating to 5G caused a trade war over the issue, with multiple actions from the US, including restrictions towards Chinese companies. This paper seeks to explore the issue of 5G around global security and the struggle for geopolitical dominance.
Identified gap in the literature is related to the question if there is a safe side in terms of choices that countries make around 5G vendors. Earlier studies have not considered this question appropriately in a comprehensive way, because of one sided look and policy approach. The second question attempts to find the best solution for countries to escape dominance of 5G vendors, ensure high safety and avoid potential hazards.
To put 5G technology in context, we present geopolitical issues around a global information infrastructure, provide information into China’s 5G strategy and history of tech struggles between China and the US. We further present emerging geopolitical safety issues regarding 5G technology and elaborate Serbia’s geopolitical turmoil related to 5G.
In conclusion we classify countries based on their position about this issue to the West, the East and the Neutral corpuses. The focus on Serbia and politics of 5G diversity is then examined to conclude that this geopolitical position of 5G Neutrality could be beneficial for the balanced World in which new technologies will be base for multilateral dominance. This paper is limited in technical and legal analysis of the issue. Further research should propose encryption and quality control standards together with legal framework, to ensure diversity in social interest.
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Hills, J. (2002). The struggle for control of global communication: The formative century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Hoffmann, S., Bradshaw, S. & Taylor, E. (2020). Networks and Geopolitics: How great power rivalries infected 5G. Oxford Information Labs: Oxford. https://oxil.uk/publications/geopolitics-of-5g/Geopolitics_5G_Final.pdf
Hong, Y. (2011). Reading the 12th Five-Year Plan: China’s communication-driven mode of economic restructuring. International Journal of Communication, 5, 1045–1057.
Huawei (2021, February 2). Q&A. Huawei. Retreived from https://www.huawei.com/en/facts.
Huawei. (2020). 2019 annual report. Retrieved from https://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/annualreport/2019
ITU. (2018). Focus group on technologies for Network 2030. International Telecommunications Union. Retrieved from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/net2030/Pages/default.aspx
Jaisal, E. (2020). The US, China and Huawei Debate on 5G Telecom Technology: Global Apprehensions and the Indian Scenario. Open Political Science, 3(1), 66-72. doi:10.1515/openps-2020-0006
Kaska, K., Beckvard,H & Minárik, T. (2019). Huawei, 5G and China as a Security Threat. CCDCOE NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence: Tallinn.
Korac, S. T., (2018). Depersonalisation Of Killing. Towards A 21st Century Use Of Force ‘Beyond Good And Evil? Filozofija i društvo, 29(1): 49-64. http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/bitstream/handle/123456789/1541/bitstream_3118.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Levy, N. (2019, February 28). Huawei pleads not guilty to federal charges of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile, trial set for 2020. Geek Wire. Retrieved from https://www.geekwire.com/2019/huawei-pleads-notguilty-federal-charges-stealing-trade-secrets-t-mobile-trial-set-2020/
Liebetrau, T., & Christensen, K. (2021). The ontological politics of cyber security: Emerging agencies, actors, sites, and spaces. European Journal of International
Security, 6(1), 25-43. doi:10.1017/eis.2020.10
Lips, M., & Koops, B. (2005). Who regulates and manages the Internet infrastructure? Democratic and legal risks in shadow global governance. Information Policy, 10, 117–128.
Lucas, L. (2019, September 23). China government assigns officials to companies including Alibaba. The Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/055a1864-ddd3-11e9-b112-9624ec9edc59
McChesney, R. (2013). Digital disconnection: How capitalism is turning Internet against democracy. New York, NY: The New Press.
Meese, J., Frith, J., & Wilken, R. (2020). COVID-19, 5G conspiracies and infrastructural futures. Media International Australia, 177(1), 30–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20952165
Miao, W., Zhu, H., & Chen, Z. (2018). Who’s in charge of regulating the Internet in China: The history and
Morgenson, G. & Winter, T. (2020, March 13). The U.S. is now investigating Chinese telecom giant ZTE for alleged bribery. NBC News. Retreived from https://www.nbcnews.com/business/corporations/u-s-now-investigating-chinese-telecom-giant-zte-alleged-bribery-n1156696
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Pavlovic, M. & Bojic, L. (2020). Political marketing and strategies of digital illusions – examples from Venezuela and Brazil. Socioloski pregled, 54(4):1391-1414. doi:10.5937/socpreg54-27846
Pew (2019, September 16). Opinion of China: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of China? Global Indicators Database, Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/global/database/indicator/24/country/vn
Reuters (2019, April 29). U.S. intelligence says Huawei funded by Chinese state security: Report.rs. Reuters. Retreived from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-huaweiidUSKCN1RW03D
Rühlig, T. & Björk, M. (2020) What to Make of the Huawei Debate? 5G Network Security and Technology Dependency in Europe. UI Paper no. 10, January 2020.
Rühlig, T., Seaman, J., & Voelsen, D. (2019). 5G and the US-China tech rivalry - a test for Europe's future in the digital age: how can Europe shift back from back foot to front foot? (SWP Comment, 29/2019). Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik -SWP- Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit. https://doi.org/10.18449/2019C29
Saghezchi, F. B., Mantas, G., Ribeiro, J., Al-Rawi, M., Mumtaz, S. & Rodriguez, J. (2017). Towards a secure network architecture for smart grids in 5G era. 13th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), pp. 121-126, doi: 10.1109/IWCMC.2017.7986273
Salamatian, K. (2020). Trump against Huawei. Geopolitical stakes of 5G. Hérodote, 2(2-3), 197-213. https://doi.org/10.3917/her.177.0197
Sanger, D., Benner, K., & Goldstein, M. (2019, January 28). Huawei and top executive face criminal charges in the U.S. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/us/politics/meng-wanzhou-huawei-iran.html
Schiller, D. (2011). Geopolitical-economic conflict and network infrastructures. Chinese Journal of Communication, 4(1), 90–107.
Shen, H. (2018). Building a digital silk road? Situating the Internet in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. International Journal of Communication, 12, 2683–2701.
Strumpf, D. (2019, January 24). Huawei brushes off Western concerns as it unveils 5G chipset. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/huawei-advances-5g-ambitionswith-new-chipset-11548325579
Sutherland, E. (2020). 5G Security – The Politics of Huawei Equipment in the United Kingdom. SSRN. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3654596
Tang, M. (2020). Huawei Versus the United States? The Geopolitics of Exterritorial Internet Infrastructure. International Journal of Communication, 14: 4556–4577
Vuksanovic, V. (2021, April 26). Biden and the Western Balkans. War On the Rocks. Retrieved from https://warontherocks.com/2021/04/biden-and-the-western-balkans/
Wen, Y. (2017). The rise of Chinese transnational ICT corporations: The case of Huawei. (Doctoral dissertation). Simon Fraser University, Canada. Retrieved from https://summit.sfu.ca/item/17505
Winseck, D. (2017). The geopolitical economy of the global Internet infrastructure. Journal of Information Policy, 7, 228–267.
Xi, J. (2015, December 16). Remarks by H. E. Xi Jinping president of the People’s Republic of China at the opening ceremony of the second World Internet Conference. Retrieved from https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjdt_665385/zyjh_665391/t1327570.shtml
Yeo, S. (2016). Geopolitics of search: Google versus China? Media, Culture, & Society, 38(4): 591–605.
