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bne September 2020 Central Europe I 33
is “a sovereign country, we treat these countries [China and Russia] quite standardly like everyone else.” He also stated that Prague didn’t intend to exclude Russia from the tender to expand Dukovany.
The US secretary of state moved on
to Slovenia, where a joint statement
on the security of the two countries’
5G networks was signed. “The tide is turning against the Chinese Communist Party and its efforts to restrict freedom for all of us,” said Pompeo at a press conference alongside Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, going on to comment on the “horrible pandemic that was birthed in Wuhan, China”.
“We ... discussed the relations with China and Russia. In the relations with these two countries, we must seek and take into account the strategic interest of our civilisation which is based on values of security, freedom, the rule
of law and democracy,” he added.
The signing came shortly after Huawei said it was willing to talk with Slovenia about 5G technology security issues and to sign a non-espionage agreement with the country. Slovenia recently rolled out a 5G network with Ericsson, seen by the US as a trusted partner.
During Pompeo’s tour of Central Europe, both Slovenia and fellow Nato member Albania signed up to the US initiative dubbed “The Clean Network” that US diplomats say is intended to protect 5G networks from Chinese
inf luence.
The following day in Austria,
Pompeo said “telecommunications infrastructure and the risks that are presented by the Chinese Communist Party” had been discussed. “I think the whole world can plainly see now that the Chinese Communist Party is intent on using this telecommunications infrastructure for purposes that no other – no other telecom system in
the world does, right? They’re using
it as deeply tied to their national security apparatus, to their intelligence community, to their military forces – all the data,” he said.
Meanwhile, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg took a more cautious tone, saying: “our approach
is not to ban in general one competitor, one provider, but to establish a clear list of criteria to avoid high-risk providers”, and referenced the common position within the European Union on 5G security.
The tour took in four countries
with right-wing or populist leaders: former businessman Babis who has
been nicknamed the “Czech Trump”, Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa who has been seeking to emulate the illiberal democrats of Central Europe, the conservative Austrian People's Party, and the right-wing PiS-led government in Poland that has repeatedly challenged the EU on issues such as migration and judicial reform.
Other countries in the region have also taken steps against Huawei, among them Estonia, which passed amendments
to its telecoms law on May 12 to make sure providers of telecoms services
are screened from the point of view of
Deal rather than security issues when announcing the decision to end the agreement with CGN.
By contrast, Huawei is building
a 5G network in Hungary – which
has pursued an opening to the East policy under Prime Minister Vktor Orban – despite earlier US pressure on its European allies to shut out Huawei from network development. Huawei will work with the UK's Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom on the rollout of 5G services, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in November.
As bne IntelliNews’ Budapest correspondent wrote at the time:
"With the decision to pick Huawei, the government has sent a clear message
to global political and economic actors.” Meanwhile, Hungary is working with Russia to expand its Paps nuclear
power plant.
Serbia is another important destination for Chinese investment in the region. In addition to the Chinese investment
“The tide is turning against the Chinese Communist Party and its efforts to restrict freedom for all of us”
national security. Huawei is seen as a potential target of the law that Estonian lawmakers dubbed “the Huawei law”, as reported by Reuters, though the law does not identify the company.
Romania recently decided to
terminal an agreement with China General Nuclear Power (CGN) on the construction of two new reactors at its Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The decision followed the memorandum on strategic nuclear cooperation signed by Romania and the US last September, the month after the US included CGN on a blacklist for allegedly trying to get nuclear technology from the US to be used for military purposes in China, though Prime Minister Ludovic Orban cited the European Union's Green
in the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway, investments include the Zeman-Borca bridge, dubbed the Friendship Bridge, that connects two suburbs of Belgrade, and the Chinese acquisition of the Zelezara Smederevo steel mill, one of the country’s top exporters.
And while Pompeo’s focus was on
5G networks, Chinese investments
in Southeast Europe have gone considerably beyond telecoms: major investments include those in industrial assets like Zelezara Smederevo, as well as transport infrastructure and energy, in particular new coal fired power plants that international financial institutions are now unwilling to finance.
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