Pompeo issued the ultimatum following a meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday. Allowing Huawei equipment would have severe consequences, Pompeo warned according to Reuters. “They [Germany] will take their own sovereign decisions, [but we] will speak to them openly about the risks… and in the case of Huawei the concern is it is not possible to mitigate those anywhere inside of a 5G network,” Pompeo said.
With billions of dollars in global investment expected for 5G infrastructure, Huawei is a direct competitor for American companies.
Pompeo reiterated concerns that China’s intelligence will be using its next generation networks as a “back door” for surveillance. “[There is] a risk we will have to change our behavior in light of the fact that we can’t permit data on private citizens or data on national security to go across networks that we don’t have confidence [in].”
The Trump administration first notified Berlin that intelligence sharing could be put on hold in March, when US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell told economics minister that Germany “wouldn’t be able to keep intelligence and other information sharing at their current level if Germany allowed Huawei or other Chinese vendors to participate in building the country’s 5G network”.
But Germany’s national security establishment appears to have remained largely unmoved by the threats. And a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman responded to the White House threats saying that the US has not offered any hard evidence that Huawei’s products present a security risk.
“We hope that the United States can stop these mistaken actions which are not at all commensurate with their status and position as a big country,” said spokesman Geng Shuang, cited by Reuters.
But Pompeo told CNBC: “For them to say that they don’t work with the Chinese government is false.” He says he has been “explaining the risks” about Huawei as he travels around the EU to meet with government leaders.
Last week, the White House blacklisted the giant Chinese telecom, making it harder to continue to do business with American companies.
Huawei has reportedly blocked its employees from taking part in technical meetings with American contacts in response, which has even included firing American employees that were based at its Chinese headquarters in Shenzen.