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    'Well done': Mike Pompeo congratulates UK and Dominic Raab on Huawei decision – video

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    The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has congratulated the UK on its decision to ban Huawei and opening an invitation to Hongkongers after having a ‘very productive’ conversation with the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.
    The pair held a press conference after discussing Hong Kong, Russia and China during lunch on Tuesday
    Government rejects ISC’s call for inquiry into Russian interference in Brexit referendum – live news
    US threatens sanctions against Huawei employees and business partners

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    Dominic Raab

    Mike Pompeo

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    Pressure from Trump led to 5G ban, Britain tells Huawei

    The British government privately told the Chinese technology giant Huawei that it was being banned from Britain’s 5G telecoms network partly for “geopolitical” reasons following huge pressure from President Donald Trump, the Observer has learned.In the days leading up to the controversial announcement on Tuesday last week, intensive discussions were held and confidential communications exchanged between the government and Whitehall officials on one side and Huawei executives on the other.As part of the high-level behind-the-scenes contacts, Huawei was told that geopolitics had played a part, and was given the impression that it was possible the decision could be revisited in future, perhaps if Trump failed to win a second term and the anti-China stance in Washington eased.Senior Huawei executives have gone public since Tuesday’s decision saying that they hope the British government will rethink, apparently encouraged by the results of back-channel contacts.The government’s private admissions are out of kilter with public statements last week by ministers, who said Huawei had been banned because of new security concerns raised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of GCHQ.In the Commons, Oliver Dowden, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, said new sanctions forbidding the sale of US-produced components to Huawei – meaning the Chinese company will have to source them from elsewhere – had changed the balance of security risk.“The new US measures restrict Huawei’s ability to produce important products using US technology or software,” he said. “The National Cyber Security Centre has reviewed the consequences of the US’s actions …“The NCSC has now reported to ministers that they have significantly changed their security assessment of Huawei’s presence in the UK 5G network. Given the uncertainty this creates around Huawei’s supply chain, the UK can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment affected by the change in the US foreign direct product rules.” More

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    Cyber security review may spell end for Huawei 5G deal

    Government set for climbdown after US bans on Chinese telecoms group and growing resistance from backbenchers The National Cyber Security Agency in the UK is expected to conclude that US sanctions against Huawei will make it impossible to use the Chinese company’s technology as planned for 5G networks. The emergency review, announced on Sunday, is […] More