US warns Europe against embracing China’s 5G technology
Western allies vent tension at Munich security conference
Top US officials have threatened and cajoled European allies as cracks in the western alliance were laid bare at the Munich transatlantic security conference.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat House of Representatives speaker, issued a rebuke to European countries which are using China’s Huawei to build 5G mobile communications networks, saying they had taken a “very dangerous” path.
“It's about putting the state police in the pocket of every consumer,” she said on Sunday. “The debate on 5G is about security, it's about economy, it's about values.”
Her remarks came after Mark Esper, US defence secretary, and Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, also spoke out, and illustrated how Washington’s mounting pressure on Europe over its relations with Beijing cuts across the political divide.
Mr Esper warned that a European embrace of Chinese 5G mobile communications technology could compromise the Nato military pact, while Mr Pompeo urged an end to European talk of political clashes with Washington, insisting “the west is winning” in a world of great-power competition.
The broadsides highlight how the gathering of top politicians, military officers and spies in Munich set up more than 50 years ago to consolidate the Cold War era transatlantic alliance has become a place to vent its modern-day tension.
Mr Esper urged international partners to “wake up” to the “nefarious strategy” being pursued by Beijing to undermine the “international rules-based order”, including its drive to control the potentially revolutionary 5G technology.
“If we don’t understand the threat and we don’t do something about it, at the end of the day it could compromise what is the most successful military alliance in history — Nato,” he said.
Mr Esper’s latest warning on the impact of 5G on Nato opens up a new front in the war of words between Washington and Europe on the dangers posed by Chinese involvement in infrastructure, from telecoms to transport and energy.
The US — which sent a bipartisan delegation of over 40 congressional members to the security conference this year — emphasises that it will keep up the pressure, despite European leaders taking a more nuanced view of the balance between security threat and economic gain.
The UK defied White House advice by allowing Huawei into its 5G networks last month, but the message in Munich is that the failure to take the perceived risks seriously will have consequences.
The UK has also risked raising tension with Washington by holding talks with China about a role in building the HS2 high-speed railway.
When asked about London’s exploration of a new infrastructure contract with the Chinese, Mr Esper said he would want to look further at the plan — and specifically whether there would be a possible crossover between civilian and military technology.
“I would scrutinise these things so for sure,” Mr Esper said.
British officials note that Washington has dialled down its threats on the Huawei decision affecting intelligence-sharing with London, but fear this disagreement could have an impact on a post-Brexit US trade deal.
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi hit back at US criticisms, denouncing them as smears.
“All these accusations against China are lies, not based on facts,” Mr Wang said. “But if we replace the subject of the lie from China to America, maybe those lies become facts.”
The Chinese foreign minister suggested that US attempts to block Chinese equipment and infrastructure being used within Europe were a means of preventing China’s “redevelopment and rejuvenation”.
“We hope the US superpower in the world will not give up its confidence or its sense of reason,” he said.
Ms Pelosi warned European countries they will “choose autocracy over democracy” if they let China’s Huawei take part in rolling out 5G technology.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato secretary-general, warned on Saturday that countries shouldn’t be tempted to trade short-term economic benefits for “long-term security challenges”.
Mr Pompeo batted away European fears over the transatlantic relationship and said there was more to unite the two sides than to divide them, given their shared interests in combating China’s attempts to establish an “empire”.
He played down differences in areas such as President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal as “tactical”, although European diplomats list fundamental disagreements in areas such as climate and trade.
“I’m happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly exaggerated,” Mr Pompeo said, pointing to US efforts on boosting its military presence and cyber security in Europe. “The west is winning, and we’re winning together.”
“Don’t be fooled by those who say otherwise,” he said, adding that history showed the “weak and the meek” never won.
But speaking after Mr Pompeo, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, warned of a “weakening” of the west, echoing wider European worries. Many European officials see an increasingly unilateral US as not just a Trump-era phenomenon, but part of a geopolitical structural change driven by forces including the rise of China, Russian’ military resurgence and the assertiveness of regional powers in the Middle East and elsewhere.