BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
Monday that America might be forced to scale back certain operations in
Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with the
Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.
Pompeo made the
comments in Budapest on the first leg of a five-nation European tour
during which he said he would raise American concerns about China and
Russia's growing influence in Central Europe. He said he also would
discuss concerns about the rule of law, democracy and human rights in
the region, particularly in Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister
Viktor Orban has been criticized for increasingly authoritarian rule.
On
Huawei, which is a major player in Hungary, Pompeo said he would make
the case to Orban and other officials that doing business with the
company comes with significant risks for information security and
privacy that could imperil cooperation with the United States. U.S.
officials are deeply troubled by Huawei's expansion in Europe,
especially in NATO members including Hungary, where they believe it
poses significant threats.
"They are a sovereign nation. They get
to make their own decisions with respect to these things," Pompeo told
reporters at an impromptu news conference at the U.S. Embassy in
Budapest. "What is imperative is that we share with them the things we
know about the risks that Huawei's presence in their networks present —
actual risks to their people, to the loss of privacy protections for
their own people, to the risk that China will use this in a way that is
not in the best interest of Hungary."
"We have an obligation to
share this with them, and we will do so," Pompeo said. "But second, we
have seen this all around the world. It also makes it more difficult for
America to be present. That is, if that equipment is co-located where
we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to
partner alongside them. We want to make sure we identify (to) them the
opportunities and the risks with using that equipment. And then they
will get to make their decisions."
The U.S. has repeatedly accused
China of using technology to pilfer trade secrets. China recently has
said that it's "totally unreasonable" to make some of these accusations
and that the U.S. is just trying to suppress a rising competitor.
Pompeo
will take the same message to his next stop, Slovakia, on Tuesday,
before heading to Poland, where he will participate in a conference on
the future of the Middle East expected to focus on Iran. He will wrap up
the tour with brief stops in Belgium and Iceland.
Ahead of his
visits to Budapest and Bratislava, U.S. officials said Pompeo hoped to
reverse what they called a decade of U.S. disengagement in Central
Europe that created a vacuum Russia and China have exploited. Over the
course of the past 10 years, the officials said, Russian President
Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders have become much more aggressive in
the region and made inroads.
President Donald Trump's
administration has made a point of reaching out to Orban, who shares
Trump's strong stance on limiting migration and has adopted increasingly
authoritarian measures, including cracking down on the opposition,
labor unions, independent media and academia.
The administration
of Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, had largely steered clear of
Orban, who won a third consecutive term last year in a campaign based on
anti-immigration policies and whose policies have been met with street
protests and deepening concern within the EU.
Pompeo put the blame for much of the backsliding on a lack of U.S. engagement.
"I
think for a long time we shunned them in a way that drove them to fill
the vacuum with folks who didn't share our values," he said. "The
Russians and the Chinese ended up getting more influence here, they do
not remotely share the American ideals that we care so deeply about."
"So
many of the concerns that are voiced are things that have happened in
the absence of America being engaged, so I think it's centrally
important that we're here," he said. "We'll certainly make the case
about the things that we see that we wish were different here."
Pompeo
was given a list of concerns in a meeting with Hungarian civic leaders.
Some of their groups have been targeted by legislation making their
work more difficult, like a tax on funds received from abroad and the
possible jail time for those convicted of aiding asylum seekers. Three
groups that took part said they believed Pompeo would bring them to
Orban.
"The meeting and the openness to the opinion of the civic
groups again demonstrated that the American leadership is committed to
the defense of the values of the rule of law and the role of civil
society," the groups said in a statement.
Last month, Orban said
he wanted "anti-immigration forces" to become a majority in all European
Union institutions, including its Parliament and the EU's executive
Commission, and predicted that there would soon be two civilizations in
Europe — one "that builds its future on a mixed Islamic and Christian
coexistence" and another in Central Europe that would be only Christian.
Orban's
government has been targeted for criticism, including from the U.S.,
for forcing a Budapest-based university founded by billionaire
philanthropist George Soros to move most of its programs to Vienna. His
fiery rhetoric against migrants and refusal to join a new European Union
public prosecutor's office focusing on fraud and corruption also have
raised concerns.