Portugal won’t exclude Chinese companies from supplying technology for the country’s new 5G wireless network, senior Portuguese officials told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday.
Portugal has been revealed to be the latest European Union country to resist U.S. efforts to persuade allies they should shun Chinese companies, specifically, Huawei’s bids to provide the hardware that operators will use for the new ultra-fast 5G networks.
The Chinese government “won’t hesitate” to use Huawei as a back door to sensitive data, Pompeo warned at a news conference with Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva. He expressed that each country has to make its own decision about such issues, “but we have tried for these past couple of years to make clear to our friends all around the world of the attendant risks.”
Mr. Santos Silva argued that the bids from 5G operators will be assessed in the light of strict Portuguese and EU regulations. Market-leading wireless carrier Altice Portugal partnered last year with Huawei to develop 5G technology as it prepares to launch the service in 2020.
European countries have been caught in the middle of a geopolitical battle over 5G networks, as Washington lobbies its allies to avoid Huawei because of suspicions the company could be used by Xi Jinping for cyberespionage - allegations the company has denied.
Other EU countries, including the key markets of Germany and the United Kingdom, have also resisted Washington’s attempts to block Huawei, though they have yet to make a final decision.
Those decisions have contributed to at times strained relations between Washington and the EU, though there are signs that Europe is starting to take the U.S concerns more seriously. The Dutch government said on Thursday in its plans to auction 5G frequencies that wireless companies could ban equipment suppliers with connections to foreign governments or intelligence agencies involved in spying.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted at a tougher stance earlier this week, saying he didn’t want to compromise security and intelligence cooperation in any decision on 5G suppliers. The EU Council adopted 5G conclusions this week stressing that cybersecurity should consider “non-technical factors including the legal and policy framework” suppliers may face in third countries, an apparent reference to communist-ruled China.
Robert Strayer, a cybersecurity official with the U.S. State Department, said he was pleased with the council’s position, because it’s in line with what Washington has lobbied other governments to adopt: “a set of principles to protect the whole of the network from untrusted vendors.”
Mr. Santos Silva said that all foreign investment is welcome, as Portugal is one of the EU’s, and NATO’s, smaller members and keen to attract investors. Chinese companies already own significant assets in the energy, banking and insurance sectors.
Mr. Santos Silva noted that a public tender is to open soon for a container terminal at the country’s biggest Atlantic deepwater port, in Sines. China is expected to table a strong bid, but the foreign minister said he hoped U.S. companies would compete, too. Pompeo also met privately with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
Comments
According to a number of experts the dangers of 5G have not been properly researched and claim we are being used as guinea pigs. This is the reason why many cities have already either banned or postponed the roll out of 5G.
In the mean time the rest of the world is worried about a little trace gas CO2 which is the basis of life on earth and call it pollution!
Perhaps ADN would like to do some research on the 5G subject and inform it's readers of it's dangers.