‘EU should not use 5G equipment of Huawei,’ says Pompeo

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday (local time) it is critical for EU countries to not use the 5G wireless communication equipment from Chinese tech giants, such as Huawei and ZTE. He suggested South Korea’s Samsung, Sweden’s Ericsson, and Finland’s Nokia as alternatives that compete fairly and abide by the rule of law.

In his article titled, “Europe must put security first with 5G,” published on American political opinion media company Politico, Pompeo wrote, “U.S. message to EU allies: Don’t trust Chinese firms with critical networks.” The article appears to have the intention to add more pressure on EU countries to join the anti-Huawei campaign before the upcoming NATO summit meeting in London on Tuesday and Wednesday and the EU information and communications ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

“The company (Huawei), based in Shenzhen, maintains links to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” said the secretary. “It is implicated in espionage in the Czech Republic, Poland and the Netherlands, has allegedly stolen intellectual property from foreign competitors in Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States,” he went on. Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, is a former officer of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and obtained exclusive orders from the army after the company’s foundation in 1987, which led the company to become one of the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturers in the world. The U.S. still has the suspicion that Huawei is actually the Chinese government’s agency.

“European companies like Ericsson and Nokia produce high-quality, price-competitive 5G equipment, as does the South Korean company Samsung,” Pompeo said in the article. “These firms are legitimate commercial actors that compete fairly. Even more importantly, they are headquartered in democracies that abide by the rule of law, and are accountable for their actions.”


Yong Park parky@donga.com