Update, 6/1/2020:

On April 1, CDMedia exclusively reported that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson planned to withdraw from plans to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to build up to 35% of the U.K.'s nationwide 5G cellular network. A week later, Johnson was sidelined with a serious case of COVID-19. Now recovered, his plans to withdraw are back on the table at 10 Downing Street.

Over the past week, events have changed to endanger the compromise. New U.S. sanctions that prohibit the use of American-designed chips in Chinese technology have renewed calls from British conservatives to abandon Huawei altogether. As reported by the Daily Signal:

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reported last week that “the Prime Minister has instructed officials to draw up plans that would see China’s involvement in the U.K.’s 5G network reduced to zero” in the face of strong opposition from Parliament and the Trump administration.

That’s a complete reversal of the British government’s decision back in January to allow Huawei a 35% stake in the development of the U.K.’s 5G infrastructure.

Plans to cut China out of 5G infrastructure come ahead of June G7 meetings where other member countries share in skepticism over China following the COVID-19 pandemic. One topic that is sure to play into the multi-nation summit: an alliance among G-7 countries plus Australia, South Korea, and India--to build an independent 5G network.

The Times of London revealed Friday that “Britain is seeking to forge an alliance of [10] democracies to create alternative suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid relying on China. … The government has approached Washington about a ‘D10’ club of democratic partners, based on the [Group of Seven] plus Australia, South Korea, and India.”

These are hugely welcome developments ahead of the planned G7 summit of world leaders at the White House, expected to be held at the end of June, as governments across the world adopt an increasingly tough stance toward China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The original story appears below.

--Ed.

UPDATE — April, 8 2020: Nigel Farage reported that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, stricken with COVID-19, is in "really bad shape."

ORIGINAL STORY — CDMedia has heard from two sources close to the matter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will cancel the UK's contract for 5G wireless service from the Chinese conglomerate Huawei. The move is a stunning reversal of fortune for Huawei, the flagship nationalized vehicle for advancing the CCP's soft power in the West.

The implications are fraught for any sovereign country that agrees to contract with Huawei for 5G. The Chinese Communist Party is the de facto owner of the tech giant, and the CCP makes no secret of its plans for global domination. Given China's history of intellectual and technological theft, agreeing to let them play host to all the online information of any nation is dicey enough on its face.

Behind the scenes, Johnson is said to be furious with China for a number of reasons, not least of which is his own positive test result for COVID-19 on March 27. Further complicating matters, a recent shipment of test kits bound for the UK were found to be contaminated with coronavirus.

In other words, take the test and get infected.

The test kits were assembled in Luxembourg by food safety and laboratory testing services firm Eurofins. The infected elements are "probes and primers," the long, thin swabs that medical personnel use to collect samples from the nasal and oral cavities.

Eurofins claims the infected elements were "supplied by other countries". This is the kind of diplomatic language that sounds like a dogwhistle to ears attuned to China's role in the spread of the virus. The infamously politically correct British authorities aren't pushing the matter.

The question is clear: how does a coronavirus test become infected with...the coronavirus? Why is this not the headline in every newspaper right now? Who is responsible for potentially infecting scores of Britons?

Taken together with videos making the Twitter rounds today (a Chinese-American woman hoarding face masks in Florida, and a Chinese worker wiping new face masks on his shoes before they ship), a pattern has formed.

On a grander scale, Johnson is angry with China for delaying their reporting on the spread of the virus at the outset, and misrepresenting the number of Chinese infected and killed by the virus. New intelligence from Chinese crematoriums suggest that fatalities are 15 to 40 times higher than the figures provided by the CCP (81,554 infected, 3,312 deaths).

Worse still, the UK has been one of the least aggressive countries in testing for coronavirus thus far. Recent calls from political opposition to ramp up efforts have gained public support, and now Johnson is portrayed in the liberal press as having slept on the job. This setback only strengthens that narrative.

Bad news abounds for Johnson. Per the Daily Mail:

• The UK death toll soared to 1,019 – up 260 in 24 hours, including the first surgeon to die from Covid-19;
• NHS medical chief Stephen Powis said ‘every one of us has a part to play’ if deaths were to be kept below 20,000;
• As No 10 released pictures of Mr Johnson at work, a poll found Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the voters’ favourite to be interim Prime Minister if Mr Johnson cannot perform his duties;
• Tracking by this newspaper suggested the virus sweeping Whitehall may have originated with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier;
• The first images emerged from inside London’s ExCel Centre as it is being transformed into a 4,000-bed makeshift hospital;
• Deaths across Europe exceeded 20,000, with Italy suffering 10,023 fatalities and Spain seeing its biggest daily rise of 889 to reach 5,690;
• Global infections hit 600,000;
• Ministers were considering using the RAF to airlift Britons stranded abroad after Opposition pressure;
• A front line NHS doctor gave a harrowing account to this newspaper about how medics are having to ‘play God’ due to equipment shortages;
• Amid fear of more domestic abuse cases, Home Secretary Priti Patel warned culprits they would be ‘brought to justice’;
• Police risked fresh claims of snooping by tracking motorists’ cars to check how far they have travelled;
• Panic buyers provoked anger by throwing away excess food – some of it unopened;
• US President Donald Trump suggested he may try to put New York in quarantine;
• Wuhan, the Chinese epicentre of the crisis, partially reopened after more than two months in isolation;

To add insult to injury, a story has been circulating on Weibo, the Chinese messaging app, that the virus originated in Italy in November. The stunning campaign of disinformation from China only worsens.

First it was US soldiers, now it's Italy, a country that went out of its way to fight racism against the Chinese at the beginning of the outbreak by creating a public relations campaign called "Hug a Chinese." As Italy, and now the UK have learned, political correctness can be deadly when dealing with the CCP.

Eurofins, the manufacturer of the COVID-19 tests, claims that the probes and primers can be cleaned and segregated, but the process will further delay testing.

It remains to be seen how many subjects of the crown will be eager to line up to be tested with a kit that was once contaminated with the virus itself.

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