The controversy over Huawei's role in the UK's 5G network continues to grow, and Huawei has a number of supporters.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of Britain's biggest business group CBI, warned that moves to restrict Huawei's involvement could "damage" economic recovery.
She said the U.K.'s future economic revival is already being labelled a "digital first" recovery, with many employees working from home and firms seeking innovative ways to adapt and boost productivity.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under intense pressure to reduce Huawei's use in 5G networks, as anti-China sentiment is escalating in the Conservative Party following the outbreak of a new coronavirus epidemic.
Huawei is supplying the UK with equipment to build 5G networks, but last month it emerged that Johnson had drawn up plans to end Huawei's involvement altogether by 2023.
Fairbairn said: "Huawei has been an important contributor getting 5G rolled out and that's going to be an important part of our economic recovery."
"It's going to be part of [Johnson's pledge of] 'levelling up' the entire country. Be very careful about taking a decision that really damages our ability to recover. "
"The digital transformation is going to be central to the recovery in the UK and you have all sorts of reasons why you want to continue at full speed. We need to make sure we take decisions that really are the right ones for the country and we're not forced into a binary choice that harms us."
Huawei recently launched a promotional round in the UK, including a full-page newspaper ad highlighting the company's contribution and commitment to the UK over the past 20 years.
Huawei vice president Zhang Jiangang noted that the UK's economic growth would suffer billions of pounds if Huawei's equipment was removed from the UK's 5G and fixed fibre networks as the country tries to recover from "Brexit and the challenge of the new coronavirus pneumonia".
