The Financial Express : Jun 26, 2020, 09:01 AM
Washington: Calling Orange in France, Jio in India and Telstra in Australia as тАШclean telcosтАЩ for refusing to do business with firms from China, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed that Chinese tech giant HuaweiтАЩs deals with telecommunications operators around the world are тАЬevaporatingтАЭ.тАЬThe worldтАЩs leading telecom operators тАУ including SpainтАЩs Telefonica, as well as Orange, O2, Jio, Bell Canada, Telus, and Rogers, and many more тАУ are becoming clean telcosтАж (They are) disconnecting from the Chinese Communist Party infrastructure,тАЭ Pompeo told reporters at a news conference here on Wednesday. They are rejecting doing business with tools of the CCP surveillance state including companies like Huawei, he said, adding that the tide is turning against the Chinese tech company.тАЬHuaweiтАЩs deals with telecommunications operators around the world are evaporating because countries are only allowing trusted vendors in their 5G networks. Examples include the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Romania, Denmark, and Latvia. Recently, Greece agreed to use Ericsson rather than Huawei to develop its 5G infrastructure,тАЭ he said.тАЬSome of the largest telecom companies around the globe are also becoming clean telcos. WeтАЩve seen this with Orange in France, Jio in India, Telstra in Australia, SK and KT in South Korea, NTT in Japan, and O2 in the United Kingdom,тАЭ he said.Pompeo said he met ChinaтАЩs top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Hawaii last week and had a тАЬvery frank discussionтАЭ about the CCPтАЩs unprovoked aggression on a number of fronts and that he тАЬpressed him for more transparency on COVID for the good of the worldтАЭ. тАЬWeтАЩre concerned by BeijingтАЩs behaviour and weтАЩre not the only ones. And he and I talked about that. Our friends and partners are finding their voice and taking action to counter ChinaтАЩs malign activities, particularly in Europe,тАЭ he noted.Within the past week, Pompeo said that he spoke to EU foreign ministers and also to a democracy forum in Copenhagen. They clearly recognise the threat that China poses to the free world and to the rule of law, he said.After the EU-China Summit this week, President of European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen publicly echoed many of the concerns that IтАЩve expressed previously, Pompeo said.тАЬWhile I was meeting with Yang, the G7 released a statement condemning BeijingтАЩs crackdown in Hong Kong,тАЭ Pompeo said.A few weeks ago, the big three telecommunications companies in Canada decided to partner with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, because public opinion was overwhelmingly against allowing Huawei to build CanadaтАЩs 5G networks, he noted.Telef├│nica states in its Digital Manifesto that тАЬsecurity is paramount,тАЭ while the companyтАЩs CEO and Chairman Jos├й Mar├нa ├Бlvarez-Pallete L├│pez recently declared, тАЬTelef├│nica is proud to be a 5G Clean Path company. Telef├│nica Spain and O2 (UK) are fully clean networks, and Telef├│nica Deutschland (Germany) and Vivo (Brazil) will be in the near future without equipment from any untrusted vendors.тАЭPompeo said that the momentum in favour of secure 5G is building. тАЬThe more countries, companies, and citizens ask whom they should trust with their most sensitive data, the more obvious the answer becomes: Not the Chinese Communist PartyтАЩs surveillance state,тАЭ he said.