President Donald Trump issued a warning Sunday to countries that use Chinese tech company firm, Huawei.
Any country partnering with Huawei risk jeopardizing U.S.’ ability to share intelligence, the president said through one of his chief diplomats, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. Trump’s comment comes after Britain permitted Huawei limited access in January to the country’s network.
Trump “just called me from AF1 and instructed me to make clear that any nation who chooses to use an untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardize our ability to share Intelligence and information at the highest level,” Grenell told his Twitter followers Sunday evening.
. @realDonaldTrump just called me from AF1 and instructed me to make clear that any nation who chooses to use an untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardize our ability to share Intelligence and information at the highest level.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 16, 2020
Britain is reportedly allowing the company to supply and build 5G network infrastructure but will deny the massive company access to some of Britain’s government sites. Britain officials had been under intense pressure from the Trump administration to block Huawei.
Huawei considers the move a win, even though Britain also limited its market share to 35%. (RELATED: UK Allows Huawei Limited Access To 5G Networks, Restricts The Company On Other Parts)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Boris Johnson (Tolga Akmen– WPA Pool/Getty Images)
China is pushing back against what the country believes is U.S. hypocrisy. “Who he (Grenell) is threatening? Who’s the real threat? Remember, Snowden said US spied on Chancellor Merkel’s phone!,” Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a tweet Monday.
She was referring to reports in 2013 stemming from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s decision to release documents related to the agency’s alleged bugging of European Union offices in Washington D.C.
American officials are stepping up their anti-Huawei campaign regardless. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for instance, told his Twitter followers in January that Britain had a “momentous decision ahead on 5G.”
Former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan was among a handful of people who panned Britain’s move. “It’s a recipe for disaster,” he said in a press statement addressing the decision.
China has reportedly spent $24 billion more on wireless communications infrastructure since 2015 than the U.S.
The country also built more 5G towers in a three-month span in 2017 than the U.S. did in three years. There are also concerns that Huawei’s and ZTE’s close ties to China leave the U.S. open to cyberattacks.
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