The challenge is common—China’s rise as a technological leader in 5G (fifth generation telecommunications standards); the threats are the same—the intrusion of Chinese 5G technology to steal data of democracies; the values are in sync—democracies, howsoever imperfect they may be. The timing is right—the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or Quad) is gathering strategic momentum. It is curious, therefore, that a technological partnership between the US and Japan on 6G couldn’t expand to include India and Australia as security partners, and invite South Korea as a potential technology provider.
True, the of the
US-Japan Competitiveness and Resilience (CoRe) Partnership is considerably wider and includes biotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum information, science and technology, civil space cooperation (including the Artemis program and asteroid exploration), and secure information and communications technology (ICT), amongst others. But strategically, the most important one amongst them is the accent on 5G and 6G in particular and digital connectivity in general, as the first few paragraphs of this partnership show:
Together, the United States and Japan will:
- Advance secure and open 5G networks, including Open Radio Access Networks (“Open-RAN”), by fostering innovation and by promoting trustworthy vendors and diverse markets.
- Strengthen competitiveness in the digital field by investing in research, development, testing, and deployment of secure networks and advanced ICT including 5G and next-generation mobile networks (“6G” or “Beyond 5G”). The United States has committed US $2.5 billion to this effort, and Japan has committed US $2 billion.
- Build on successful U.S.-Japan cooperation in third-countries and launch a Global Digital Connectivity Partnership to promote secure connectivity and a vibrant digital economy while building the cybersecurity capacity of our partners to address shared threats.
- Strengthen collaboration and information exchange between U.S. and Japanese ICT experts in global standards development.
- Cooperate on sensitive supply chains, including semi-conductors, and on the promotion and protection of critical technologies.
Predictably,
China claims the relationship is doomed to fail. This propaganda is best ignored. But the partnership needs to expand to include India and Australia, both natural partners.
Australia has already banned Huawei from its 5G rollout. India is not ready for 5G. But when it is, it will most likely prevent the entry of Chinese vendors. The
geopolitical hostility of China against India is muddying the waters of commercial relationships between the two nations. Besides, this is no longer an India-China issue. From Australia to
the UK,
Italy to
Sweden, including 13 other European nations, one country after another is moving towards a no-Huawei 5G world. Where democratic leaders are fearing China, companies are coming in, as in the case of the
Czech Republic. It is fairly safe to conclude that Germany, France, and now
the Netherlands, will join this world.
But the case of India and Australia as natural members of this partnership is not merely technological, it is strategic and part of the security interests of the larger the Indo-Pacific region. Such a partnership is an essential tool to power the combined naval exercises in the region and strengthen the security infrastructure. Technologically, China is a clear leader in 5G, of that there is no doubt. Further, its attempts to weaponise its technology to steal data are no longer secret either; it does so in full gaze. So, while strengthening the physical security, the Quad needs to engage collectively in delivering digital security too. When it does so, this bilateral needs to become a quadrilateral. Strategic synergy rather than diffused actions is the need of the time—a fist rather than five fingers.
Despite being as a late starter in this sector, India doesn’t come empty handed to the technology table. The
5G TestBed Project, led by IIT Madras and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT) with support from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, is amongst other things, working on developing “some revolutionary concepts” such as millimetre wave communication, massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output), dense networks and wireless solutions for Indian markets in conjunction with the industry. A similar testbed project at IIT Madras, called “
Indigenous 5G TestBed: Building an End-to-End 5G Test Bed in India,” is headed towards completion.
As far as South Korea goes, it can be an important technological partner. Its company, Samsung, hopes to deliver
early commercialisation of 6G by 2028 and massive commercialisation by 2030. Politically, South Korea may not be ready to join this collaborative effort; it may not be ready to take on China at this stage, given the tension with North Korea, China’s proxy in that region. But it could definitely be a special invitee and sit on the high table of strategic technology engagements in the region.
The importance of these five countries working together to develop 6G and higher technologies is not merely in outputs of networks or faster speeds to consumers. They will add weight to the setting of 6G standards at the ITU,
another area that China is attempting to capture. Once the power of the two largest democracies and five technologically-aligned nations comes together, other actors playing on the stage of geopolitical technology, notably the EU and within it Sweden (led by Ericsson) and Finland (by Nokia), should fall into place and possibly create a system that is bound together by values but functions independently in the respective nations. The time for going solo or through bilaterals is behind us. The only key that can unlock the 6G geotechnological imperatives of tomorrow is collaborations.
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