Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday warned the UK that as a result of China’s economic and political activity and aims, the country now represents “a new kind of challenge, an authoritarian regime that’s integrated economically into the West.” He also accused China of stealing “intellectual property for military purposes,” and said that the country aims to “dominate A.I., space technology, ballistic missiles and many other areas.”
The US has boycotted the Chinese tech giant over security concerns and has been pushing its allies to do the same in order to prevent Huawei from providing the Chinese government with access to the data and systems of foreign governments. However, the campaign has not been highly successful, with major European allies including the UK resisting an outright boycott.
Pompeo warned that Chinese law enables the government to obtain access to data on Huawei systems, and asked what the UK government could do “to make sure sensitive technologies don’t become open doors for Beijing’s spymasters?”
