HANOI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - China's leading telecommunication firms Huawei and ZTE
have won a string of contracts this year to supply 5G equipment in Vietnam, in another sign of Hanoi's strengthening bonds with Beijing, stirring concern among Western officials, seven people with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters. For years, Vietnam was seen as reluctant to use Chinese technology in sensitive infrastructure, but in recent months it has embraced Chinese tech companies as sometimes frosty relations with its northern neighbour have
while ties with Washington have soured over tariffs on Vietnamese goods.
Under Western pressure, Vietnam long took "a wait-and-see approach" to Chinese technology, said Nguyen Hung, a specialist in supply chains at RMIT University Vietnam. But "Vietnam has its own priorities," he added, noting the new deals could spur deeper economic integration with China. Hanoi and Beijing have made progress recently on other sensitive projects, including
and special economic zones close to the Chinese border, which Vietnam had previously discarded as security risks.
The Chinese contracts have been discussed in at least two meetings of senior Western officials in Hanoi in recent weeks, diplomatic sources said. In one meeting, a U.S. official warned they could undermine trust in Vietnam’s networks and jeopardise access to U.S. advanced technology. In a meeting this month officials explored whether areas using Chinese technology could be sealed off from the rest of the network to prevent data leaks, one of the sources said. But suppliers of antennas and equipment could still gain access to network data, said Innocenzo Genna, a telecommunications lawyer, noting "Western contractors may face the awkward prospect of working alongside firms they do not trust."
