EU and US jostle over Europe’s 5G future
- Poland teams up with the United States to ensure only ‘trusted suppliers’ have access to telecoms network
- European Union looks for its own middle ground that will address security concerns
Telecom fault lines are opening up across Europe as the US and Poland team up on 5G security in a veiled attempt to fend off alleged threats from Beijing and as the EU prepares to stake out its own strategy on the next-generation technology.
On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and US Vice-President Mike Pence signed a security agreement on next-generation mobile broadband technology, pledging that “only trusted and reliable suppliers” would be involved in their communications networks.
While the joint declaration did not refer to specific countries or suppliers, statements afterwards left no doubt that the deal was aimed at China and Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said Poland and the US “must stand together to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from using subsidiaries like Huawei to gather intelligence while supporting China’s military and state security services – with our technology”.
And, when asked whether the US had provided evidence of espionage by Huawei, Polish President Andrzej Duda said: “Indeed, Poland’s counter-intelligence has detected activity that could be of espionage nature.”
In response, China said it was confident that Poland would remain neutral towards Huawei but it warned against “playing political cards and engaging in small circles on the 5G issue”.