The United States may be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday in a new warning that underscores U.S. concerns about the firm.
In Budapest on the first leg of a five-nation European tour during which he is raising American concerns about China and Russia’s growing influence in Central Europe, Pompeo said nations would have to consider choosing between Huawei and the United States. The warning was broad but pointedly delivered in Hungary, a NATO ally and European Union member where Huawei is a major player.
“They are a sovereign nation,” Pompeo said of Hungary. “They get to make their own decisions. What is imperative is that we share with them the things we know about the risks that Huawei’s presence in their networks present — actual risks to their people, to the loss of privacy protections for their own people, to the risk that China will use this in a way that is not in the best interest of Hungary.”
