Five Eyes ties ‘rock solid’ - US official
A senior American diplomat has offered some comfort to New Zealand over its role in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, saying the security relationship is “rock solid” despite the Huawei furore.
The GCSB’s interim decision to block Huawei equipment from being used by Spark in its 5G network has sparked fears of retaliation from China against New Zealand, and led to accusations of the Government caving to US pressure.
While New Zealand has denied there was any pressure from allies to block Huawei, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month the country would be unable to share information with any partners which allowed Huawei into their “critical information systems”.
W. Patrick Murphy, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, was quick to dismiss any imminent threat to New Zealand’s Five Eyes status during a visit to the country.
Speaking to Newsroom, Murphy said the US shared its own experiences with China when speaking to allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific and around the world.
“We’ve seen a lot of Chinese interference and unfair play in our very open country and open market, whether it’s [intellectual property] theft or state-subsidised approaches to contract arrangements, harassment and intimidation of academics and researchers and students, and taking advantage of our open society where there’s no equal or reciprocal treatment in China…it’s clear that the playing field is not level.”
Speaking about Huawei’s potential role in 5G mobile networks, he said the US would “do everything needed to protect our national security” as the world moved to the next generation of technology.
“Where we are going to have concerns is where our security systems, our communications systems have vulnerabilities and could be compromised, and it’s been made very clear from a US perspective, our independent judiciary, that companies like Huawei pose some threats.”
However, Murphy said individual countries would need to come to their own conclusions about Huawei based on their national security priorities, offering some positive words about the “strong partnership” between the US and New Zealand.
“Our security relationship and the special arrangement we have with New Zealand along with several other countries is rock solid, and I don’t perceive any disruption to that now or going forward - it’s very strong and I know working together we are going to overcome any particular obstacles that might arise.”
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https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/03/05/472525/five-eyes-ties-rock-solid-us-official
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