German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also been reluctant to exclude specific providers from the country’s 5G networks. Her political party has backed a strategy paper that could potentially curtail Huawei’s involvement in Germany’s 5G rollout by barring “untrustworthy” companies deemed to be subject to state influence from the process, without issuing a full ban.
“I continue to stress to my friends in Europe — and just this past week again at the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels — that America’s concerns about Beijing’s commercial and military expansion should be their concerns as well,” Esper said.
He added that China’s “growing economic, military, and diplomatic power” has often manifested itself in “threatening and coercive” ways, and he called on China to abide by international norms.
While Esper asserted that the US “does not seek conflict with China,” he warned that if China does not change its policies and behaviors, then defending international rules and order must be the international community’s “collective” priority.
“We can only do this by making greater investments in our common defense; by making the hard economic and commercial choices needed to prioritize our shared security and by working together to maintain a ready and capable alliance network that is prepared to deter any threat, defend any ally, and defeat any foe,” he said.
Source : CNN
