MPs call for rethink on Chinese secure communications deal

MPs from across the political spectrum say they are extremely concerned about the decision to buy software to update the C2000 communications system for the police and emergency services from a Chinese firm.

‘Our communication system should never be unnecessarily vulnerable,’ VVD MP Antoinette Laan-Geselschap said in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday. ‘You need to be able to trust the system… it is too important.’

GroenLinks MP Kathalijne Buitenweg said ministers are right in warning about economic espionage and the risky takeovers of Dutch firms, particularly by Russia and China.

‘At the same time, our police officers will soon be using Chinese software, and we are making ourselves vulnerable,’ she said. ‘So I would ask the cabinet to make this sort of major purchase elsewhere.’

Much has changed since part of the contract for the C2000 system was awarded to a Chinese firm in 2015, the MPs point out. For example, the AIVD has issued warnings about Chinese industrial espionage. And Australia has barred Huawei from developing its new 5G telecommunications network.

The government awarded the software contract to Hytera Mobilfunk, a German subsidiary of China’s Hytera Communications as part of a European tender process.

Earlier this year, an investigation by television current affairs programme Zembla said that both national security service AIVD and the military security service MIVD had major objections to the involvement of a Chinese firm.