Mike Pompeo jets in to UK as US raises Huawei concerns
US secretary of state Mike Pempeo will arrive in the UK for talks with the government today over its decision to let Chinese telecoms giant Huawei build parts of its 5G network against American advice.
The talks are also expected to cover the death of Harry Dunn, another source of tension in the “special relationship” after the US refused to extradite Anne Sacoolas, who is suspected of causing the 19-year-old’s death by dangerous driving.
Pompeo – who will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson and foreign secretary Dominic Raab – has repeatedly warned that letting a major Chinese firm into the UK’s internet networks posed a grave security threat.
Yet culture secretary Baroness Nicky Morgan said the decision would not come “at the expense of our national security” as Huawei would not be allowed to access the “core” parts of the network.
Morgan said the decision “not only paves the way for secure and resilient networks, with our sovereignty over data protected, but it also builds on our strategy to develop a diversity of suppliers”.
Nonetheless, an official from the administration of President Donald Trump said the US was “disappointed” in the UK’s decision.
Many US lawmakers attacked the move. Republican senator Tom Cotton said there should be a “thorough review” of US intelligence sharing with the UK.
The government also faced criticism from inside parliament. Former Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Tom Tugendhat said Raab’s statement on the decision “leaves many concerns and does not close the UK’s networks to a frequently malign international actor”.
Pompeo will fly on from the UK to Ukraine on Thursday.
Before that, he is likely to face questions from the government on the US decision to block the extradition of Sacoolas, who is suspected of hitting Dunn and killing him when driving on the wrong side of the road in Northamptonshire in August.
The US said in a statement last week that “at the time the accident occurred, and for the duration of her stay in the UK, the driver in this case had status that conferred diplomatic immunities”.
“The use of an extradition treaty to attempt to return the spouse of a former diplomat by force would establish an extraordinarily troubling precedent.”