US warning over Huawei

DONALD Trump’s secretary of state is to warn Theresa May against giving Huawei access to Britain’s 5G networks, it was reported yesterday.

Mike Pompeo will tell the Prime Minister that the Chinese technology company poses a security risk to Britain.

The former head of the CIA will meet Mrs May and Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, in London next Wednesday.

He will also deliver a speech on the state of the UK-US ‘special relationship’. A US State Department official said Mr Pompeo would make it clear that giving Huawei access to networks could endanger US-UK technology partnerships, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The source said: ‘What we want to do with friends, allies, partners on this issue is share with them the things we know about the risks that the presence of Huawei and their networks present.

‘We see that as imperative, the risk to their own people, to the loss of privacy protections, the risk that China will use the data in a way that’s not in the best interests of their country.’

The Prime Minister’s decision to give Huawei limited access to Britain’s 5G network has put renewed strain on the relationship with Washington.

The White House has been lobbying European allies against letting the firm into its networks, fearing that the Chinese government has significant control over Huawei, despite its denials.