The Swedish government values freedom and privacy of its citizens. This is why the safety of personal data and privacy is not a meaningless phrase in this country. After the espionage scandal with Huawei, Sweden decided to ban the use of gear from Huawei and fellow Chinese firm ZTE. Besides, the company was also prohibited from the rollout of its 5G networks.
These actions provoked a furious response from Beijing. "The Swedish side should, in an objective and fair way, correct the mistaken decision, and avoid bringing about negative impacts on business and trade between China and Sweden, and Swedish companies’ operations in China," a foreign ministry spokesman said. China openly threatens to retaliate and seriously worsen the position of Swedish companies in the Chinese market if Stockholm does not lift the ban on Huawei gears. For what it is worth, while China is considering its retaliatory measures, local people as well as local smartphone makers, Ericsson and Nokia, are quite happy with this news.
Curiously enough, many other European countries imposed restrictions on Huawei long ago. The reason for them was irrefutable evidence of the company's cooperation with Chinese intelligence services and surveillance of its users’ personal data. Some experts say that many countries made such a decision against the backdrop of pressure from the United States to cut Huawei from their internet infrastructure. The US was the first country to blacklist Huawei.
