On December 2, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo contributed an article to the Politico website, slandering China for espionage and IPR theft, and urging European countries not to cooperate with Chinese 5G companies. In response to Pompeo's erroneous remarks, Ambassador Zhang Ming, Head of the Chinese mission to the EU, immediately wrote an article entitled "Security First or America First" on the same website. The article is translated as follows:

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put on another disinformation campaign against China and Chinese companies, trying to win the hearts and minds of the Europeans with his long list of fake news. It is the latest example that the top US diplomat has been upping the ante to sling the mud on China.

Pompeo’s arguments against Huawei are a far cry from the truth. Despite all the witch hunt and media hype, not a single country or individual has come up with solid evidence to prove that Huawei poses a security threat. Der Tagesspiegel stated in May that after years of review, the UK government, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security and the European Commission all failed to find any backdoor in Huawei. When Pompeo keeps attacking the Chinese Communist Party and proudly claims the moral high grounds, he seems to be quite forgetful about the notorious PRISM and the “careless” wiretapping on America’s closest allies.

Pompeo’s efforts are no more than abusing the very concept of national security. He is simply taking advantage of the public consciousness of technology security to promote his own political agenda. If Pompeo’s logic stands, even a bottle of wine produced in a country with a different political system could be poisonous. In that case, we could not help but ask: is it security first or America first? I think it would be hard for some to sell the cold-war mentality in Europe.

Everybody agrees that security is of paramount importance as new technologies mushroom. There are now ongoing efforts worldwide to enhance the security of 5G technology. The future 5G network is so integrated and interlinked that decoupling would lead to nowhere. To build a safe, open, transparent and healthy 5G ecosystem, only cooperation works in a spirit of mutual trust.

Europe takes pride in multilateralism and upholds open markets. It is my hope and belief that the Europeans will keep to the principles of fairness, justice and non-discrimination. In the 5G era known for its connectivity and openness, let’s opt for cooperation rather than confrontation.