Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted Friday that China’s failures in dealing with the COVID-19 global pandemic that began within its borders will be a major factor as countries around the world weigh whether to use Chinese high-tech giant Huawei in their next-generation 5G national data networks.
The Trump administration has been waging an all-out battle to convince allies to shun Huawei in their telecommunications infrastructure, saying the company’s close economic and intelligence ties to the Communist government in Beijing make it a security risk.
Huawei, considered a market leader in 5G technologies, has denied the charges, and the U.S. campaign has met with mixed success in Europe and elsewhere.
But Mr. Pompeo told Fox Business news Friday that what he called China’s failures to contain the coronavirus or to share information in a timely fashion with the world will have an impact on the Huawei fight.
“I am very confident that this moment — this moment where the Chinese Communist Party failed to be transparent and open and handle data in an appropriate way — will cause many, many countries to rethink what they were doing with respect to their telecom architecture,” Mr. Pompeo said.
“And when Huawei comes knocking to sell them equipment and hardware, that they will have a different prism through which to view that decision,” he added.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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