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US: Countries shouldn't open up to China on 5G

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The chief technology officer of the United States has criticised the European Union for not standing with his country over the Huawei 5G issue.

Speaking at Web Summit this week, US CTO Michael Kratsios said that EU should not “open their arms” to Chinese 5G networks and AI tech, and that it should instead “take a stand” with the US. Kratsios claims that China has laws which compel tech companies to cooperate with the country’s intelligence agencies.

“We may not see eye to eye on every aspect of technology policy, but we all agree on the principles that matter most,” said Kratsios.

He also referred to a report published in the French paper Le Monde, which claimed that China took data from the African Union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, through the use of Huawei’s equipment.

Huawei described Kratsios’ remarks as “hypocritical and manifestly false”, saying it didn’t have access to African Union data.

While the US continues to drive Huawei, and other Chinese tech companies out of the country, arguing that they’re a threat to national security, these companies are increasingly turning towards Europe. Reuters claims that Huawei recently signed 65 commercial 5G deals, half of which were with European customers.

The US believes Chinese intelligence agencies can force their tech companies to cooperate, so it’s best not to risk it and choose a different 5G infrastructure provider. Huawei has been denying these accusations for months, calling for international supervision and opening up its code for analysis.