德国《法兰克福汇报》18日报道，德国联邦内政部长泽霍费尔近日在接受该媒体采访时明确表示，反对将中国华为公司排除在德国5G网络建设之外。 “我反对仅因存在某种可能就把某个产品排除出市场的行为。”泽霍费尔说，如果没有华为参与，德国可能无法在短期内建起5G网络，5G网络建设进程可能会因此推迟5年至10年。 Germany's interior minister has suggested that the country cannot build a 5G mobile network without Chinese tech giant Huawei, going against pressure from the U.S. to exclude the company for security concerns reported AP news on Saturday. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Germany could enforce strict standards to protect itself from possible sabotage when introducing foreign technologies, but it cannot just ban it for a possibility. "I'm against taking a product off the market just because there is a possibility that something might happen," Seehofer was quoted as saying. He estimated that shutting out Chinese providers could delay building the new network by 5 to 10 years, wrote AP citing reporting from the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The U.S. has been trying to pressure its European allies to ban the Chinese telecom giant for alleged espionage risks. But UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said recently that the U.S. has to suggest an alternative if it wants to push the UK to exclude Huawei from its 5G network building. A Huawei smartphone outlet in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. /VCG Photo Meanwhile, Britain's BT and Vodafone, Britain's two largest telecoms companies, are also considering urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to risk the rollout of next-generation mobile networks by banning China's Huawei, Reuters reported on Saturday. Vodafone, which uses Huawei's equipment in its radio network, has previously said a blanket ban on the Chinese company would cost millions of pounds and significantly slow down the rollout of 5G networks. It paused the deployment of the company's equipment in its data-heavy core networks a year ago until Western governments give the company a full security clearance. BT also uses Huawei's equipment in networks, but it is not deployed in the intelligent core of its fixed-line network, and it is removing it from the core of its mobile network. Huawei vice president Victor Zhang said on Tuesday he was confident the UK government would make a decision based upon evidence, "as opposed to unsubstantiated allegations". 中国驻德国大使吴恳16日在德国巴登-符腾堡州一个地区工商大会年会上发表演讲，呼吁德方最终就华为问题作出独立、公正的决定。吴恳说，在中国持续对外开放市场、德国企业在华经营良好的背景下，德国若出于政治考量将华为排除在5G建设之外，不仅是一种歧视，还将释放保护主义的错误信号。 Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken on Thursday stressed at a business conference that the building of 5G network in Germany, should be based on technical standards, product quality, and equal treatment of all suppliers. Wu also said that the Chinese government has no legal requirements for enterprises to collect data, and has never required enterprises to install "backdoors." The German government also hasn't received information so far indicating that Huawei equipment has stolen intelligence. If Germany excludes Huawei from the 5G market, then this is not only discrimination but also a false signal of protectionism, Wu added. French junior economy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher in November said there is no exclusion against Huawei. As one of the top three equipment makers in France, Huawei takes 25-percent market share there. Norway's largest mobile operator Telenor in December also said it will continue working with Huawei for its 5G telecoms network, as it has been working with Huawei for 10 years.