Rogers Vice Chairman Calls for Banning Huawei From Canada’s 5G Network

Visitors try out the Huawei Mate S smartphone at the Huawei stand at the 2015 IFA consumer electronics and appliances trade fair on September 4, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Canadian telecom provider Rogers Communications Inc’s vice chairman, Philip Lind, said on May 30 that Huawei Technologies Co should be banned from Canada’s 5G network, Bloomberg reported.

While Huawei is cheaper and sophisticated compared with other alternatives, its close relationship to the Chinese government is troubling, Lind told BNN Bloomberg in a TV interview.

A Huawei company logo is seen at Huawei's Shanghai Research Center in Shanghai, China on May 22, 2019. (Aly Song/Reuters)

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to discuss about the dispute with China over Huawei during a meeting in Ottawa on May 30.

U.S. has accused Huawei of being tied to China’s government, and has effectively banned U.S. firms from doing business with the company for national security reasons.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a Liberal Party caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, April 2, 2019. (Reuters/Chris Wattie)

The dispute, which also involves Canada, has left Ottawa expressing frustration at what it sees as a lackluster response from the United States to harsh Chinese measures.

In December 2018, Canada arrested Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wangzhou, on a U.S. warrant. Subsequently, China arrested two Canadians on charges of espionage and stopped imports of key commodities from the G-7 country.

The P9 smartphone by Huawei during the phone's launch at the Battersea Evolution venue in London on April 6, 2016. (Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images)

Reporting by Debroop Roy in Bengaluru