Pompeo threatens relations with the US over use of Huawei
The US’s actions to ‘suppress’ Chinese companies’ legitimate development interests are ‘extremely unfair and immoral’, and are unbecoming of a great power
Budapest — US secretary of state Mike Pompeo cautioned allies on Monday against deploying equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on their soil, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to “partner alongside them”. The US and its Western allies believe Huawei’s apparatus could be used for espionage, and see its expansion into central Europe as a way to gain a foothold in the EU market. Washington is concerned, in particular, about the expansion of Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in Hungary and Poland. “We want to make sure we identify [to] them the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment,” Pompeo told reporters during a visit to Budapest. Hungary is the first stop in a trip by Pompeo to central Europe that also includes Slovakia and Poland and is part of what administration officials say is an effort to make up for a lack of US engagement in the region that opened the door to more Chinese and Russian influence. Huawei denies eng...
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