Pompeo urges UK to rethink move to give Huawei limited role in 5G networks

London

THE United States on Wednesday urged Britain to look again at its decision to allow China's Huawei a limited role in 5G networks, cautioning that American information should only pass across trusted networks.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson granted Huawei a limited role in Britain's 5G mobile network on Tuesday, frustrating a global attempt by the United States to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from the West's next-generation communications.

"There is also a chance for the United Kingdom to relook at this as implementation moves forward," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters as he flew to London, according to a pooled report.

"We will make sure that when American information passes across a network we are confident that that network is a trusted one," he added.

Mr Pompeo was due to arrive in London later on Wednesday. He was scheduled to meet his British counterpart Dominic Raab as well as Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

He said telecoms and security would be "part of the conversation".

In what some have compared to the Cold War antagonism with the Soviet Union, the US is worried that 5G dominance is a milestone towards Chinese technological supremacy that could define the geopolitics of the 21st century.

"Our view of Huawei is: putting it in your system creates real risk," Mr Pompeo said. "This is an extension of the Chinese Communist Party with a legal requirement to hand over information to the Chinese Community Party. We'll evaluate what the United Kingdom did."

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, has said the US wants to frustrate its growth because no US company could offer the same range of technology at a competitive price.

Britain argued that excluding Huawei would have delayed 5G and cost consumers more, echoing warnings from the telecoms industry. "It's important for everyone to know there is also real work being done by lots of private companies inside the United States and in Europe to make sure that there are true competitors to Huawei," Mr Pompeo said.

Britain plans to exclude risky operators from "sensitive" locations such as nuclear sites and military bases, but a US official insisted there was "no safe option for untrusted vendors to control any part of a 5G network".

The European Union (EU), meanwhile, is following the same format as Britain and announced strict 5G rules, but did not ban Huawei from operating there. EU countries could ban telecoms operators deemed a security risk from critical parts of 5G infrastructure under guidelines issued on Wednesday, amid US pressure to shut out Chinese giant Huawei.

The EU plan, which closely mirrors rules set out by Britain allowing a limited role for Huawei, stops short of barring the company from the next-generation communications network with near-instantaneous data transfers.

It leaves member states with the responsibility to ensure the safe rollout of 5G and warns them to screen operators carefully, saying security of the network will be critically important for the entire EU.

The so-called "toolbox" outlined by the European Commission avoids naming Huawei and does not call for an outright ban on any supplier.

But it urges countries to "assess the risk profile of suppliers" and "apply relevant restrictions for suppliers considered to be high risk" accordingly, including shutting them out of "key assets defined as critical and sensitive". It also recommends EU states avoid "major dependency on a single supplier" and "dependency on suppliers considered to be high risk".

The guidelines are the fruit of months of agonising within the EU, which has struggled to find a middle way to balance Huawei's huge dominance in the 5G sector with security concerns pressed by Washington.

Any bans on Huawei will now ultimately be up to individual member states, but the commission's middle road recommendations give cover to European capitals to resist pleas from Washington.

Huawei welcomed the guidelines, saying they would allow it to continue playing a role in Europe's 5G rollout.

"This non-biased and fact-based approach towards 5G security allows Europe to have a more secure and faster 5G network," the company said in a statement. "Huawei has been present in Europe for almost 20 years and has a proven track record with regard to security. We will continue to work with European governments and industry to develop common standards to strengthen the security and reliability of the network."

Huawei is widely viewed as providing the most advanced alternative for super-fast data transfers behind technologies such as self-driving cars and remotely operated factory robots.

Along with European telecom companies Nokia and Ericsson, it is one of the few suppliers capable of building 5G networks. REUTERS, AFP