WASHINGTON, June 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Two leading US senators warned
President Donald Trump’s administration Thursday to not use Chinese
telecommunications giant Huawei’s access to the US market as a negotiating
tool in trade talks with Beijing.
Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Mark Warner, both members of the
Senate Intelligence Committee, echoed rising concerns Trump could water down
an effective ban on Huawei equipment in order to secure a trade pact with
China.
The United States has severely limited Huawei’s access to the US market
and US-made technology over the past two years amid fears that its equipment,
especially that for the coming next-generation 5G wireless markets, could
offer Chinese intelligence services a back door to US communications.
“Allowing the use of Huawei equipment in US telecommunications
infrastructure is harmful to our national security,” Rubio and Warner said in
a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and US Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer.
“In no way should Huawei be used as a bargaining chip in trade
negotiations.”
“Instead, the US should redouble our efforts to present our allies with
compelling data on why the long-term network security and maintenance costs
on Chinese telecommunications equipment offset any short-term cost savings.”
The world’s largest telecommunications supplier, Huawei has taken a strong
lead in developing 5G network equipment, with a number of countries buying
it.
The US intelligence community has sought to persuade key allies to eschew
Huawei technology, but has not made public any evidence of how Huawei
equipment could be compromised by Chinese intelligence.
On May 23, Trump suggested that Huawei’s status could be part of his
negotiations with China on resolving a grinding trade battle.
“Huawei is something that is very dangerous,” he told reporters.
Nevertheless, he said, “it’s possible that Huawei would be included in a
trade deal” if an agreement is reached to end the escalating trade conflict.
Last week, China stepped up its counter-offensive, warning major US tech
companies that they could be cut off altogether from the Chinese market if
they roll back their sales of sensitive products to Chinese companies like
Huawei.