5G Reading List

Does mobile network equipment from Chinese vendors pose a threat to Europe's national security? What are meaningful ways to mitigate those risks? Does China have a strategy to become more dominant in emerging technologies such as AI, 5G or semiconductors in general? Think tanks, academics, governments and organizations produced a lot of analysis and advice to these and similar questions. This is not meant as a complete reading list but a mere starting point. Also, being on that list should not be seen as an endorsement.

If you think we missed some important piece, feel free to send a mail to jkleinhans@stiftung-nv.de. Thanks.

Last updated 28 August 2019.

Policy papers – 5G, Geopolitics, National Security

• 2018-10. 5G and National Security: After Australia’s Telecom Sector Security Review
  Nicolas Botton, Hosuk Lee-Makiyama
  European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)
   
• 2018-11. The Geopolitics of 5G
  Paul Triolo, Kevin Allison 
  Eurasia Group
   
• 2019-02. 5G vs. National Security – A European Perspective
  Jan-Peter Kleinhans
  Stiftung Neue Verantwortung
   
• 2019-03. Huawei, 5G, and China as a Security Threat 
  Kadri Kaska, Henrik Beckvard, Tomáš Minárik
  NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE)
   
• 2019-04. The 5G Ecosystem: Risks & Opportunities for DoD
  Milo Medin, Gilman Louie
  US Department of Defense – Defense Innovation Board
   
• 2019-04. 5G in the EU and Chinese telecoms suppliers [PDF]​​​​
  Gisela Grieger
  EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service
   
• 2019-05. Defending our Data: Huawei, 5G and the Five Eyes
  Bob Seely MP, Dr Peter Varnish OBE, Dr John Hemmings 
  Henry Jackson Society
   
• 2019-06. Europe and 5G: the Huawei Case [PDF]
  Mathieu Duchâtel, François Godement
  Institut Montaigne
   
• 2019-06. 5G and the US–China Tech Rivalry – a Test for Europe’s Future in the Digital Age
  Daniel Voelsen, Tim Rühlig, John Seaman
  German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)
   
• 2019-07. The Future of 5G or Quo Vadis, Europe? [PDF]
  Izabela Albrycht, Joanna Świątkowska
  The Kosciuszko Institute

Academic papers – Chinese telco vendors

• 2016-07. Transparency and Opaqueness in the Chinese ICT Sector: A Critique of Chinese and International Corporate Governance Norms
  Colin Hawes, Grace Li
  University of Technology Sydney
   
• 2017-03. Challenger Multinationals in Telecommunications: Huawei and ZTE
  Peter Pawlicki
  European Trade Union Institute (etui)
   
• 2018-06. Huawei in Europe: strategic integration of local capabilities in a global production network
  Jan Drahokoupil, Agnieszka McCaleb, Peter Pawlicki and Ágnes Szunomár
  European Trade Union Institute (etui)
   
• 2019-04. Who Owns Huawei?
  Christopher Balding, Fulbright University Vietnam
  Donald Clarke, George Washington University Law School

Government documents

• 2019-03. Catalogue of Security Requirements
  Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway), Germany
   
• 2019-03. Commission Recommendation: Cybersecurity of 5G networks [PDF]
  European Commission
   
• 2019-03. Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre Oversight Board: annual report 2019   
  Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC), UK
   
• 2019-05. The Prague Proposals
  Government of the Czech Republic

Related analyses

• 2018-02. The Huawei and Snowden Questions: Can Electronic Equipment from Untrusted Vendors be Verified? Can an Untrusted Vendor Build Trust into Electronic Equipment?
  Olav Lysne
  Springer Book
   
• 2018-02. A Transactional Risk Profile of Huawei [PDF]
  RWR Advisory Group
   
• 2018-03. On Security Research Towards Future Mobile Network Generations
  David Rupprecht, Adrian Dabrowski, Thorsten Holz, Edgar Weippl, Christina  Pöpper
   
• 2018-11. From Windfalls to Pitfalls: Qualcomm’s China Conundrum
  Joy Dantong Ma
  Macro Polo
   
• 2019-03. China’s standard power and its geopolitical implications for Europe
  Björn Fägersten, Tim Rühlig
  The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI)
   
• 2019-04. 5G Deployment - State of Play in Europe, USA and Asia
  Colin Blackman, Simon Forge
  Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies (IPOL), Requested by the European Parliament
   
• 2019-04. The current state of affairs in 5G security and the main remaining security challenges
  Roger Piqueras Jover
   
• 2019-06. Finite State Supply Chain Assessment – Huawei Firmware Analysis [PDF]
  Finite State
   
• 2019-07. Evolving Made in China 2025 – China’s industrial policy in the quest for global tech leadership 
  Max J. Zenglein, Anna Holzmann
  Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS)
   
• 2019-07. Who is leading the 5G patent race? [PDF]
  Tim Pohlmann
  IPlytics Platform