Pompeo warns UK over China network role

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Britain on Wednesday that allowing China a role in its 5G network risked undermining the historic allies' intelligence sharing, during a visit to London that also highlighted their differences on Iran.

Following talks with Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Pompeo also condemned "disgusting" politicians who backed Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, and urged European nations to take back captured Islamic State group fighters.

In both a joint press conference with Hunt and a later speech, US President Donald Trump's top diplomat delivered a blunt message over the importance of secure 5G networks.

"Insufficient security will impede the United States' ability to share certain information within trusted networks," Pompeo told an audience including British MPs at Lancaster House in London.

"This is just what China wants -- to divide Western alliances through bits and bytes, not bullets and bombs."

The US has banned government agencies from buying equipment from Chinese firm Huawei over fears Beijing could spy on communications and gain access to critical infrastructure.

A leak from Britain's National Security Council last month suggested the government in London is planning a limited role for Huawei in its 5G network.

But Hunt insisted no decision had been taken, adding that Britain would "never take a decision that compromised our ability to share intelligence" with its close allies.

Pompeo urged the country to be "vigilant and vocal against a host of Chinese activities", adding its government can demand access to data flowing through Huawei's systems "as a matter of Chinese law".

In remarks highly critical of China, he called the Belt and Road Initiative -- its signature global infrastructure project -- the country peddling "corrupt infrastructure deals in exchange for political influence".

Delivering the annual Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, Pompeo sought to channel the famously Atlanticist former British prime minister in railing against China's international agenda.

"Would the Iron Lady be silent when China violates the sovereignty of nations through corruption or coercion?" he said.

- 'Disgusting' Venezuela support -

Their talks also covered Iran, which said Wednesday it had stopped respecting limits on its nuclear activities agreed under a 2015 deal with major powers until they find a way to bypass renewed US sanctions.

The US pulled out of the deal last year, but other signatories, including Britain, have tried to save the agreement with a trade mechanism meant to bypass reimposed US sanctions.

Pompeo said Tehran's announcement was "intentionally ambiguous" and Washington would wait and see what actions it took.

Hunt said Iran's announcement was an "unwelcome step" and urged the country to stick to the deal.

"Should Iran cease to observe its nuclear commitments, there would of course be consequences," he said.

Elsewhere, Pompeo pressed the need for countries involved in the international coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria to take back fighters and civilians captured or held in refugee camps there.

"We've rounded them up, they are now detained and they need to continue to be detained so they cannot present additional risk to anyone anywhere in the world," he said.

The US diplomat also had tough words for supporters of Venezuelan President Maduro, following a question about British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's criticism of outside intervention in the country.

"It is disgusting to see leaders, not only in the United Kingdom but in the United States as well, who continue to support the murderous dictator Maduro," Pompeo said.

"No leader from a country with Western democratic values ought to stand behind them."

Singapore passes 'fake news' law despite fierce criticism
Singapore (AFP) May 8, 2019 - Huawei exec vows to fight extradition to US in Canada court
Vancouver (AFP) May 8, 2019 - A top Chinese telecom executive whose arrest in Canada on a US warrant triggered a bitter diplomatic row vowed Wednesday to vigorously fight extradition to the US.

Meng Wanzhou, 47, who faces charges related to Iran sanctions violations, was appearing at a Vancouver courthouse to set a timetable for her upcoming extradition hearing.

"The criminal case against Miss Meng is based on allegations that are simply untrue," her spokesman Benjamin Howes said outside, telling reporters she would apply for a stay of the proceedings.

He alleged that "political factors" were behind her arrest and said her rights had been violated.

Meng's appearance was initially intended to be brief but the defense spent several hours reprising their objections to her December arrest in Vancouver.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, indicated that they wanted to fast-track the case.

Haggling over the disclosure of evidence -- with the defense lamenting heavy redactions of 1,742 pages of documents released so far -- risks drawing out the process.

The next court date in the process, which could last years, was set for September 23, while the formal extradition hearings are expected to begin in January.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing were thrown into crisis by the arrest of Meng, the chief financial officer of telecom giant Huawei and possible heir to her father's company.

Washington wants to put Meng on trial on fraud charges for allegedly violating Iran sanctions and lying about it to US banks, but the case has become a major irritant for Ottawa.

After her arrest, China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor in what observers saw as retaliation.

China later announced it suspected Kovrig of spying and stealing state secrets and alleged that Spavor had provided him with intelligence.

Two other Canadians convicted of drug trafficking, meanwhile, were sentenced to death. And Beijing recently blocked Canadian shipments of canola and pork worth billions of dollars.

Canada has accused Beijing of arbitrarily detaining both Kovrig and Spavor, and called the death penalties for Canadians Fen Wei and Robert Schellenberg "cruel and inhumane."

It has also rallied the support of a dozen countries, including Britain, France, Germany and the US, as well as the EU, NATO and the G7, in its diplomatic feud with China.

- Caught between US, China -

Most recently, Ottawa has pressed Washington -- which is threatening a trade war with Beijing -- to step up its pressure on behalf of the detained Canadians.

"Canadian lives are at stake," an unnamed Canadian official told broadcaster CTV.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has insisted that Meng's case would be dealt with by the courts, and not politicized.

He sacked his ambassador to China in January for suggesting that Meng had a "strong case" against extradition, citing remarks by US President Donald Trump that he might seek to have the charges against Meng dropped in exchange for trade concessions from China.

On Wednesday, Meng's lawyers raised Trump's comments as proof that the case was politically motivated, describing them as "intimidating and corrosive to the rule of law."

They also refuted the principal accusation that Meng misrepresented to US banks Huawei's business dealings in Iran.

Meng was released on bail in mid-December in Vancouver, where she owns two residences, on a Can$10 million bond. She has also been ordered to wear an electronic anklet and hand over her passports.

She is suing the Canadian government, alleging false imprisonment and other rights breaches.

Huawei is also facing separate US charges for allegedly stealing American technology, and in recent months has faced a US campaign to blacklist it over espionage fears.

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No crime in Huawei 5G leak: British police
London (AFP) May 4, 2019
The top-secret leak that Britain had conditionally allowed China's Huawei to develop its 5G network, which brought down the defence minister, does not amount to a criminal offence, police concluded Saturday. Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday sacked Gavin Williamson as defence secretary over the leak last month of the bitterly-disputed decision made at the April 23 meeting of the National Security Council (NSC). Following the police announcement, Williamson, who has strenuously protested hi ... read more