Pompeo’s visit to E. Europe creates illusion of success against Huawei

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Central and Eastern European nations this week aimed to create an illusion that his lobby has taken effect after another European country – Slovenia – joined a group of countries to elbow out Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. But analysts suggested that the Chinese telecom giant’s destiny in Europe remains unknown, as major European countries’ attitude, particularly of Germany’s, remains open toward including Huawei in their future plans.

On Thursday, the US and Slovenia – where US First Lady Melania Trump originally came from – signed a joint declaration on 5G technology that could block Huawei from taking part in 5G network construction in the country.

On the eve of Pompeo’s visit, national operator Telekom Slovenije announced a deal with Huawei’s European competitor, Ericsson.

Recent data showed that Ericsson signed 100 5G contracts worldwide, while Huawei had signed 91 as of February.

However, data from market research firm Dell’Oro showed that Huawei led the global 5G equipment market in the first quarter of the year with a 35.7 percent market share, followed by Ericsson at 24.6 percent.

Slovenia is not a large country in Europe, and not a key market for Huawei. But the Trump administration’s lobbying has achieved its desired effect in Eastern European countries, as many of them wish to remain close to the US, Ma Jihua, an industry analyst and close follower of Huawei, told the Global Times.

Over the past year, Poland, Estonia and the Czech Republic have signed agreements with the US to exclude Huawei, but Ma noted that in the telecoms market, land area and population matter a lot on market value, and that means large countries in Europe – Germany, France and the UK – are key markets for Huawei as well as other telecoms providers.

Ma noted that Germany’s attitude toward Huawei will become an indicator for smaller European countries.

“Pompeo wanted to tell China and Europe that the US crackdown on Huawei has been effective. This means his allies will need to pick a side between China and the US…Such a situation may leave major countries isolated in the end, as they may suffer from external and internal pressure,” Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.