Europe’s new cyber rules target China — and U.S.

Europe depends on Chinese and American tech — and worries about the safety of its critical telecom and IT systems. A new cybersecurity proposal focuses on protecting against not only cyberattacks, but against what European Commission Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen calls “critical ICT supply chains.” 

If approved, the proposal would trigger binding rules for countries to force telecom operators to phase out Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE. Gentle recommendations made in a 2020 security toolbox to achieve this goal have failed. One-third of Europe’s 5G sites use Chinese equipment — a figure unchanged since 2022. Germany relies on Chinese vendors for 59% of its 5G network. 

But there’s a twist. The new rules could also hit US tech: Virkkunen mentions cloud services and satellite technology as two areas of potential security risks. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon dominate cloud computing, controlling 70% of the European market. Starlink enjoys a near monopoly over satellite communication. Given deteriorating transatlantic relations, many Europeans now see these dependencies as dangerous as their reliance on Chinese telecom equipment.  

Read more at Center for European Policy Analysis