In less than a decade of existence, Huawei Marine Networks has won contracts to install 40,000km of submarine cable, enough to circumnavigate the planet. But the global rollout has hit a snag in the South Pacific as Australia counters China’s growing influence in its backyard.
Canberra is poised to stymie a deal under which Huawei was to run a seabed cable more than 4,000km from Sydney to the Solomon Islands, instead bankrolling the A$100m (US$78m) project itself.
“The Huawei deal was red-flagged by the Australian intelligence service,” says Jonathan Pryke, analyst at the Lowy Institute think-tank. “The new national security imperative has clearly jolted Australia into action.”