(ANSA-AFP) - BLED, 13 AGO - The US and Slovenia signed a
declaration Thursday to "exclude untrusted vendors" from 5G
networks as the Trump administration continues its campaign to
persuade allies to shun Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a tour of central Europe,
signed the declaration with his Slovenian counterpart Anze
Logar. While the statement did not mention Huawei directly, it
commits Slovenia to "a thorough evaluation of providers and
chains of distribution and a strict commitment to the rule of
law". In remarks to journalists afterwards Pompeo talked about
the "threat" of "the Chinese Communist Party and its drive to
control people and information and our economies". "The tide is
turning against the Chinese Communist party and its efforts to
restrict freedom for all of us," he said. Speaking alongside
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa on the shores of the scenic
Lake Bled, Pompeo said the declaration will "benefit the people
of this country and all of us who share information across
complex network systems". Jansa said the US is "the only power
in Western civilisation capable of coping with this complex
threat". "Slovenia is ready to engage in those efforts to make
them successful," Jansa added. Jansa said relations with Russia
and China had to be based on core Western values. "We should
take into consideration the strategic interest of our
civilisation that has its foundations in security, freedom, the
rule of law and democracy," Jansa said. "These principles should
be the starting point for seeking common positions between the
EU and the US towards Russia and China," he added. Separately in
a statement, Huawei said that declarations of the kind signed on
Thursday "will slow down the introduction of 5G technology and
make it more expensive for users". In addition, such agreements
contradict the "EU's principle of a common approach in the
cybersecurity field and, in fact, do not prevent... possible
cyber crime", the statement carried by Slovenia's STA agency
said. Pompeo has already visited the Czech Republic as part of
this trip and after Slovenia will continue on to Austria and
Poland. His visit to Slovenia -- birthplace of US First Lady
Melania Trump -- is the first by a US Secretary of State since
2001. Last month, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reversed his
decision to allow Huawei to roll out Britain's fast new data
network and banned new 5G equipment purchases from January.
(ANSA-AFP).
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