Secretary of state Mike Pompeo begins diplomatic push to curb China’s ambitions in region
Aime Williams in Washington, James Shotter and Monika Pronczuk in Warsaw and Michael Peel in Brussels
The US has warned of the growing influence of Chinese telecoms company Huawei in central and eastern Europe as it launches a diplomatic push to curb Beijing’s ambitions in the region.
Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, is due to visit Hungary, Slovakia and Poland this week in a sign of Washington’s fears over inroads made by Beijing through business deals and infrastructure investment.
The potential for Chinese intelligence services to use Huawei to snoop on host countries has emerged as a central concern for Washington in its broader strategic tussle with Beijing and Moscow in eastern states of the EU. Huawei has strongly denied it is vulnerable to such interference.
US officials said in a briefing that the “large number of small and mid-sized states” in central and eastern Europe, many of whom “have a higher propensity for corruption”, could allow China to “penetrate key sectors” and exert influence within the EU.
“We are more concerned about the Chinese presence, the Huawei presence, in central and eastern Europe than in western Europe,” a senior administration official said.
The US justice department last month issued a criminal indictment that accused Huawei of stealing American technology and breaking US sanctions against Iran. Huawei has denied any wrongdoing.
Washington’s concerns have made waves in central Europe. Poland last month arrested a Huawei employee on suspicion of spying — prompting the Chinese company to fire him for bringing it into disrepute, and stress that his alleged actions had “no relation” to the company. The Czech Republic effectively shut Huawei out of public tender following a warning from the country’s cyber security watchdog.
Zhang Ming, China’s ambassador to the EU, last month hit out at the “slander” and “discrimination” allegedly faced by
and other Chinese companies in Europe.
Polish officials see the US as crucial to their national security, particularly in light of Russia’s renewed assertiveness, and hope to persuade the US to establish a permanent military base in the country.
In a further sign of Poland’s determination to stay close to Washington, Warsaw will this week co-host a conference with the US on the Middle East that is viewed with suspicion in other EU states. Local observers said the arrest of the Huawei employee was also part of Poland’s effort to cement relations with the US. “
It has the potential to disrupt Polish-Chinese relations — so the reason behind this decision, taken at the highest governmental level, must have been more important than keeping a good relationship with China,” said Grzegorz Malecki, a former head of Poland’s foreign intelligence service who works for the country’s Institute of Security and Strategy think-tank.
However, Czech president Milos Zeman has warned that moves against the Chinese company would hurt his company’s economic interests. Slovakia’s prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, also said last month that he did not consider the Chinese group a threat, and warned politicians should “be careful not to become a tool in a trade war or fight between competitors”.
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China has long made overtures to central and eastern European countries through its 16+1 grouping, which includes 11 EU members. Beijing has denied it wants to use the initiative as a Trojan horse to split the EU, tempting member states to its orbit by financing the building of roads, power stations and other infrastructure.
The US says the 16+1 initiative “underscores the importance” of central and eastern European nations in “Chinese global strategic plans”. Observers say Washington could try to lever emerging dissatisfaction in some 16+1 countries, including Poland, over the quality and value of some Beijing-backed projects.
The US administration said on Friday that it would increase its wider US diplomatic, commercial, military and culture engagement in central Europe, and hoped to offer an “alternative” to China and Russia. “Our view is that this is overdue and needed, and it has been in part the lack of robust US engagement over the past decade or so in central Europe that has created vacuums that China and Russia have very readily filled,” an official said.
