‘Shot across the bow’: U.S. increases pressure on UK ahead of key Huawei decision

LONDON/WASHINGTON: The United States is making a final pitch to Britain ahead of a U.K. decision on whether to upgrade its telecoms network with Huawei equipment, amid threats to cut intelligence-sharing ties, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Britain is expected to make a final call on how to deploy Huawei equipment in its future 5G networks later this month. It has been weighing U.S.-led allegations that Huawei’s telecoms equipment could be used to spy against Britain’s relationship with Beijing and industry warnings that banning the firm outright would cost billions of dollars.