Chinese envoy ‘highly assesses’ Seoul’s putting no restriction on 5G equipment

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong said Wednesday that he “highly assesses” the fact that the South Korean government does not restrict private corporations’ use of the fifth-generation (5G) telecommunication equipment. The remark was in response to an official at Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae who told reporters last Friday that there was “no impact” from the use of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s 5G equipment to the defense security of South Korea and the United States. The official added that it was up to each private corporation to decide which 5G equipment it would use.

The Chinese envoy made the remark during a meeting Wednesday with Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the Liberty Korea Party who heads the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, saying that China is making efforts to guarantee South Korean companies’ legal activities in China. When Yoon expressed concern over the Chinese government’s warning to South Korean businesses over the Huawei issue, Qui argued that Beijing was listening to the companies’ views on their situations without putting any pressure on them. The Chinese diplomat reportedly complained during a behind-closed-door meeting about the United States’ “unilateral” measures against Huawei.


Woo-Yeol Choi dnsp@donga.com