One issue at hand: The U.S. is urging its European allies to not use 5G tech built by China.
President Trump is expected to be among the leaders who will gather in London this week for the NATO summit, and there’s quite a lot on the agenda for the military alliance as it marks its 70th anniversary.
Now, the Alliance for American Manufacturing does not spend a ton of time talking about NATO, and the leaders are going to be discussing quite a few continuous issues that we won’t weigh in on. However, it appears that the United States is posed to bring up a topic that we’ve been following closely over the past several months.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo authored an opinion piece for Politico on Monday that reiterates the need for America’s European allies to protect the emerging fifth-generation (5G) wireless network. The quest for 5G dominance is a hot topic, because China is looking to gain control of the market.
Pompeo writes:
“5G networks will soon touch every aspect of life, including critical infrastructure. Innovative new capabilities will power autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, smart grids and other groundbreaking technologies. Thanks to the way 5G networks are built, it’s impossible to separate any one part of the network from another.
With so much on the line, it’s urgent that trustworthy companies build these 21st-century information arteries. Specifically, it’s critical that European countries not give control of their critical infrastructure to Chinese tech giants like Huawei, or ZTE.”
As Pompeo notes, 5G networks were designed in such a way that no one part of the network can be separated from another. This ultimately means that users of this network are more vulnerable to sensitive information being leaked or hacked because of how closely the networks are connected.
And Pompeo is right to worry about both Huawei and ZTE. Chinese state-run, controlled or subsidized companies like Huawei and ZTE have been linked to the Chinese military and state apparatus. Both have been accused of bribery and corruption in other nations, and there's major security concerns, not just from the United States, about what might happen if Huawei is allowed to build the world's 5G networks.
U.S. intelligence officials are so concerned about Huawei controlling 5G that over the summer they gamed out what might happen in a "nightmare scenario" in which Huawei controls the market. But despite those woes, Huawei continues to make headway into Europe. It even wants to build a 5G factory there.
It doesn't stop at these two companies, of course. China's government continues to prove that it poses a threat to national security and American infrastructure with recent stories of espionage and spying. One recent story linked Aventura Technologies’ surveillance cameras, which were labeled ‘Made in USA,’ to an origin in China where concerns were raised about the Chinese government using them to spy on the American government. Another ongoing concern is the use of TikTok, a social media app on smart phone devices used to as a chatroom, as it was linked to parties in China and associated with spying.
Then there's the fight over whether to allow Chinese state-owned, controlled or subsidized companies like CRRC and BYD to use taxpayer funds to build U.S. rail cars and buses. Here at AAM, we are staunchly opposed to that one.
In order to ensure the security of both our European allies and critical infrastructure, it is important to keep technology like 5G in the hands of those who can be trusted, which is obviously, not China.