Official: US might help others buy non-Huawei telecom gear

BEIJING (AP) — The United States is willing to help other countries finance purchases of next-generation telecom technology from Western providers so they can avoid Chinese tech giant Huawei, which Washington sees as a security threat, an American official said Thursday.

Washington is lobbying European and other allies to exclude Huawei Technologies Ltd. as they upgrade to 5G networks. Australia, Japan and some others have imposed restrictions on Chinese technology, but Huawei’s lower-cost equipment is popular with developing countries and is making inroads into Europe.

Giving Huawei even a small 5G role would allow Beijing to expand its “surveillance state” by eavesdropping on phone and other network-based systems, said Keith Krach, a U.S. undersecretary of state for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.

“There’s lots of financing tools and those kinds of things that I think many countries like us are willing to help provide, because we recognize this danger,” Krach said on a conference call with reporters.

Huawei, China’s first global tech brand, is the biggest maker of network equipment and the No. 2 smartphone brand. It is a leader in 5G, along with Finland’s Nokia Corp. and Sweden’s LM Ericsson.

Washington is in talks with Brazil over possible financing of 5G equipment purchases by its phone carriers, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported this month, citing the American ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman. Chapman said Washington also was talking with other countries.

Krach gave no financial details but cited South Korea’s Samsung as another potential vendor of “trusted communications” equipment.

The pressure on Huawei comes at a time of increasingly rancorous U.S.-Chinese relations over the coronavirus pandemic, a security...