The White House on Tuesday blasted Boris Johnson’s decision to allow the Chinese telecom giant Huawei and other “untrusted vendors” to build portions of its future telecommunications network.
“The United States is disappointed by the UK’s decision,” a senior administration official, who declined to be named, said in a statement. “There is no safe option for untrusted vendors to control any part of a 5G network.”
According to the official, the U.S. will still work with the longtime ally on “a way forward” that excludes equipment from Huawei.
The State Department has been traversing the globe warning countries that Huawei and other Chinese-manufactured equipment could pose a national security threat by providing a tool for Beijing to effectively spy on foreign governments and citizens.
Trump administration officials have gone so far as to suggest that sharing sensitive intelligence with nations that use the technology could be restricted, a response that has already garnered the support of at least some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“We continue to urge all countries to carefully assess the long-term national security and economic impacts of allowing untrusted vendors access to important 5G network infrastructure,” the administration official said. “We look forward to working with the UK on a way forward that results in the exclusion of untrusted vendor components from 5G networks.”