Asserting that there is no such thing as "pure private compes" in China, Taiwan Digital Minister Audrey Tang has said that using Chinese equipment in core telecom infrastructure is similar to inviting a Trojan horse into the network.
"There's no such thing as pure private compes in China. From the perspective of the PRC, the ruling party can change your leader whenever the situation is intense," Audrey Tang, a hacker-turned-cabinet member, said in an interview to Nikkei Asian Review in her office at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
"If you include them [China-linked compes] in the infrastructure then you have to be very careful every time you update the system, as that could make the network vulnerable to allowing a Trojan horse inside the system,"
A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is a type of malicious code or software that looks legitimate but can take control of your computer.
Audrey remarks come as countries around the world are mulling a ban on Chinese company Huwaei from their 5G network due to security threat.
"While the world is talking about whether or not to include China-linked compes in 5G infrastructure, we already did that in the 4G era," Tang said.
The UK on Tuesday announced its decision to ban British compes from buying Huawei-produced equipment for 5G networks from the end of the year.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the UK joins democracies such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Roma, and Sweden in banning Huawei from future 5G network.
He said that countries need to be able to trust that 5G equipment and software will not threaten national security, economic security, privacy, intellectual property, or human rights.
( With inputs from ANI )