The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
US offers UK olive branch on Huawei
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he is “confident” Britain and the US can work through their differences over Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Speaking ahead of talks in Downing Street with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Mr Pompeo made clear Washington still has deep reservations about the involvement of Chinese firms in Western telecoms systems.
However, he indicated the issue would not affect talks on a post-brexit trade agreement, saying the UK is still at “the front of the line” for a deal.
Mr Johnson risked incurring the wrath of the Trump administration with the announcement on Tuesday Britain would allow Huawei to play a limited role in building its 5G network.
Speaking alongside Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab at an event in London, Mr Pompeo said the US still believes having Huawei technology within the network is “very difficult to mitigate”.
He added, however: “I’m confident we can work together to implement that decision and work to get this right.”
The US administration has previously threatened to end intelligence-sharing with any ally which allowed Huawei a role in its telecoms network.
It follows fears the company could install a “back door” in its equipment which would enable the Chinese government to conduct espionage or mount cyber attacks.
Mr Pompeo again stressed the US would not permit its security information to be transferred across any network it did not trust.
“You have senior leaders in these companies that are tied to the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
“We think that is not about a technical back door, they have the front door,” he added.
His warnings come as MP Tobias Ellwood, the newly-elected chairman of the Commons defence committee, urged the government to place a “time cap” on Huawei’s involvement with Britain’s 5G network due to security fears.
However, Mr Raab said the decision by the National Security Council to allow Huawei to supply “non-core” elements of the system followed three years of security analysis.