US ambassador in 5G bust-up
AMERICAN ambassador Woody Johnson had a stand-up row with officials in Downing Street over Britain’s plans to use Huawei to establish a 5G network, sources said last night.
The billionaire ambassador had attended No 10 with a US delegation on Monday, as tensions between both countries rise over the security risks of the state-run Chinese firm.
That delegation, led by US National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger, delivered a detailed dossier outlining why even limiting Huawei to “noncore” systems would, contrary to British Intelligence claims, present a
“real and present danger” to UK national security.
“Things did not go well,” said a source. “The Ambassador became involved in what we could refer to as a pretty heated exchange. He was emphatic in trying to get the
US’S real concern across.”
The National Security Council is due to meet in London this week to discuss the issue again before the final, and delayed, decision is made at the end of the month. Last night one former government adviser on 5G said: “It is a fallacy to say you can differentiate between the core and the edge of the system. It is all connected.” Number 10 is impatient to establish the 5G network. Ditching Huawei would delay the roll out and affect Britain’s economy and jeopardise a pledge to deliver fast broadband by 2027.
CIA briefings have revealed a track record of industrial espionage and data harvesting. Trump supporting Senator Tom Cotton launched a bill in Congress aimed at prohibiting the US from sharing intelligence with any country that used Huawei.
In a recent interview US National Security Adviser Robert O’brien said: “They are just going to steal wholesale state secrets, whether they are the UK’S nuclear secrets or secrets from MI6 or MI5.”
He said it was shocking the UK is looking at Huawei, given that Japan and Australia and New Zealand, two of Britain’s so-called Five Eyes intelligence partners along with the US, have rejected the firm, which has links to the Communist regime.