Portugal resists US appeal to bar Huawei from 5G network
- Chinese companies will not be excluded from supplying technology, officials tell US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
- Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva says bids from 5G operators will be assessed in light of strict Portuguese and EU regulations
Portugal will not exclude Chinese companies from supplying technology for the country’s next-generation 5G wireless network, senior Portuguese officials told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday.
Portugal is the latest European Union country to resist US efforts to persuade allies they should shun Huawei’s bids to provide the hardware that operators will use for the new ultra-fast 5G networks.
The Chinese government “will not 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 said 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,” Pompeo said.