US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May plan to discuss Huawei during his state visit to London next week, a UK official told Bloomberg. According to the Financial Times, Trump will threaten the UK with an end to intelligence sharing if the country does not block Huawei from its 5G networks.
The UK has not yet made a decision on whether to follow the US, which put Huawei on a blacklist earlier this month, arguing that China’s government could use it for espionage or to disrupt critical infrastructure. The US has threatened to shut allies out of its key intelligence-sharing arrangement if they install the Chinese equipment. The Huawei discussion between the leaders is scheduled for 04 June.
A person involved in planning the trip told the FT that Trump was ready to make his objections known both in public and in private: "The president is preparing to repeat the message that Chinese involvement in 5G could pose significant challenges for US-UK intelligence co-operation."
Reports in April suggested the UK had agreed a compromise to exclude Huawei from core networks but allow the company to work with operators on other types of infrastructure. However, the decision has been controversial: May fired her defense secretary over leaks of the UK’s stance.
