US urges UK to reconsider Huawei 5G decision
Mike Pompeo describes Huawei as a 'real risk' to security and tells foreign secretary Dominic Raab to reconsider its role in the UK's 5G and fibre networks
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged the British government to reconsider its decision to grant Huawei a limited role in building the country's 5G and fibre networks.
Pompeo arrived in the UK on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on the Huawei issue, according to Reuters.
He described the Chinese company as a "real risk" to cyber security and warned that US intelligence information would not be allowed to pass across untrusted networks - which includes any networks running on Huawei or ZTE hardware.
The US government considers Huawei a national security threat and alleges that the equipment supplied by the firm could be used by China's government to spy on other countries.
That's why the government added the company to the Department of Commerce's Entity List in May 2019, effectively banning it from US communications networks.
Speaking to journalists on the plane to London, Pompeo said: "Our view of Huawei has been that putting it in your system creates real risk.
"This [Huawei] is an extension of the Chinese Communist Party with a legal requirement to hand over information to the Chinese Communist Party."
He added that security of telecoms networks would be "part of the conversation".
Following Pompeo's meeting with Raab on Wednesday evening, the British Foreign Office released a brief statement that didn't mention the Huawei dispute.
"The Foreign Secretary's discussions with Secretary Pompeo this evening focused on future opportunities for economic and security cooperation between the UK and US," a spokesman for the Office said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the British government announced that it would permit Huawei to participate in the roll-out of UK 5G networks, although the firm was excluded from supplying the sensitive "core parts of 5G and gigabit-capable networks".
The government also said that Huawei won't be allowed to supply equipment for safety-related networks, nuclear sites and military bases.
On Wednesday, the EU released its security guidelines for the high-speed 5G networks, which also stopped short of recommending an outright ban on Huawei - a move being interpreted as a further blow to the US campaign against the Chinese firm.
The guidelines, referred to as the '5G toolbox', allow members to decide Huawei's role in their 5G mobile networks.
However, they advised countries to limit so-called high-risk 5G vendors and to use several 5G suppliers rather than relying on a single vendor - in other words, mirroring the UK position.
EU member countries are also advised to assess suppliers on technical and non-technical factors, including the risk of surveillance by state-backed firms.
"We are not picking on anybody, we are not ostracising firms," Europe's industry chief Thierry Breton told a news conference.
EU countries will be required to implement the guidelines by April and report on their progress in June.