Politico | US national security adviser O’Brien heading to Europe for talks on China
- Robert O'Brien and Matthew Pottinger will meet with counterparts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy
- Talks will focus on the West’s competition with China across a variety of areas, including 5G
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Daniel Lippman on politico.com on July 11, 2020.
Robert O’Brien, President Trump’s national security adviser, is travelling to Paris on Monday for a three-day trip to meet with European officials on China and other foreign policy issues, according to an administration official.
O’Brien and Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, are visiting France for a meeting with O’Brien’s counterparts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.
The US side of the discussion on China will be presented by Pottinger, a former China reporter for The Wall Street Journal. It will focus on the West’s competition with China across a variety of areas including 5G and supply chains, along with other multilateral issues, such as the US posture in Germany and Afghanistan. The US has been pressuring Europe to resist using Chinese telecom giant Huawei as European countries build out 5G networks.
Trump said last month that he plans to withdraw more than 9,000 troops from Germany, where the US has roughly 35,000 US troops and their families stationed. Senators of both parties have decried lessening the American presence in Europe, as an aggressive Russia has long complained about the number of US troops on the continent.
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“Ambassador O’Brien looks forward to conducting in-depth meetings in Paris this week with his counterparts from France, UK, Germany and Italy to address a range of national security challenges including China, 5G, Russia, Afghanistan, Middle East/North Africa and Covid response and recovery,” said NSC spokesman John Ullyot, who will also be on the trip.
Though the European Union is slowly allowing more international visitors, it is still blocking Americans indefinitely from visiting EU countries, citing the US failure to contain the spread of coronavirus. The EU’s travel restrictions are reviewed every two weeks.
