Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, right, shakes hands with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the ministry in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, February 11, 2019. Pompeo is on an official visit to Hungary. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that America might be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.
Pompeo made the comments in Budapest on the first leg of a five-nation European tour during which he said he would raise American concerns about China and Russia’s growing influence in Central Europe. He said he also would discuss concerns about the rule of law, democracy and human rights in the region, particularly in Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been criticized for increasingly authoritarian rule.
On Huawei, which is a major player in Hungary, Pompeo said he would make the case to Orban and other officials that doing business with the company comes with significant risks for information security and privacy that could imperil cooperation with the United States. U.S. officials are deeply troubled by Huawei’s expansion in Europe, especially in NATO members including Hungary, where they believe it poses significant threats.
“They are a sovereign nation. They get to make their own decisions with respect to these things,” Pompeo told reporters at an impromptu news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. “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.”
“We have an obligation to share this with them, and we will do so,” Pompeo said. “But second, we have seen this all around the world. It also makes it more difficult for America to be present. That is, if that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them. We want to make sure we identify (to) them the opportunities and the risks with using that equipment. And then they will get to make their decisions.”
The U.S. has repeatedly accused China of using technology to pilfer trade secrets. China recently has said that it’s “totally unreasonable” to make some of these accusations and that the U.S. is just trying to suppress a rising competitor.
Pompeo will take the same message to his next stop, Slovakia, on Tuesday, before heading to Poland, where he will participate in a conference on the future of the Middle East expected to focus on Iran. He will wrap up the tour with brief stops in Belgium and Iceland.
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