Sixth-generation mobile networks in the EU must be built “without China,” emphasized EPP group leader and president Manfred Weber during the EPP assembly in Vienna.

The EU, Weber says, must “abandon naivety in its relationship with China. We need to accelerate. We must be clear that reciprocity is fundamental, that a level playing field is essential for us.”

And, he added, “I would go even further. I would say that future infrastructures — looking at 6G infrastructure for this continent — should, in my view, be infrastructures without China. We must become independent.” European 5G networks remain heavily dependent on equipment produced by Chinese companies, particularly Huawei and ZTE.