The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement to bring the 5G connection technology, following the global battle between the U.S. and China's Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of network infrastructure equipment.
The deal was signed by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw.
Pence went to Poland, filling in for President Donald Trump, who scrapped his trip at the last minute because of Hurricane Dorian.
Both the U.S. and Poland pledged to endorse the principles developed by cybersecurity officials from dozens of countries at a summit in Prague earlier this 2019, to counter cyber threats and ensure the safety of the 5G as the next generation of mobile networks.
The U.S.-Poland agreement states:
According to Pence, who spoke at a news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda, he hoped that the declaration would set a “vital example for the rest of Europe on the broader question of 5G.”
Pence’s chief staff, Marc Short, cited Huawei by name in a statement later that day, as he called on other nations to “ensure that only trusted providers have access to their developing networks.”
“We recognize 5G networks will only be as strong as their weakest link,” he said, adding that, “We must stand together to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from using subsidiaries like Huawei to gather intelligence while supporting China’s military and state security services - with our technology.”
The Trump's administration has banned Huawei for conducting business with companies in the U.S.. Huawei has until November 19th to serve existing its U.S. customers..
The U.S. has since lobbied its allies to also ban Huawei from distributing its 5G technologies over concerns that the Chinese government could force the company to give it access to data for cyberespionage.
Huawei has denied such allegation, and objected to being blacklisted by the Trump administration.
Earlier, the UN said that U.S. fears over Huawei's equipment are politically motivated.
At the news conference, President Duda was asked whether the U.S. had ever provided Poland with evidence of Chinese spying using Huawei technology. While he didn't say anything about the U.S. in his answer, but said that, “Indeed, Poland’s counterintelligence has detected activity that could be of espionage nature” and that prosecutors are investigating.
Previously, a Chinese businessman who served as Huawei’s sales director in Poland and a former Polish security official were arrested in Poland in January on suspicion of espionage.
During a visit to Sweden before the meeting with Pence, Morawiecki said work was being done to have Swedish networking and telecommunications company Ericsson to also invest in 5G development in Poland.