* UK is a relatively small place, China says
* Investment in UK will suffer, China says
* Trump says: I am responsible for UK ban
(Adds quotes from China)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Niklas Pollard
LONDON/BEIJING, July 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald
Trump said he was responsible for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's
decision to ban Huawei from Britain's 5G network, a remark that
London brushed off and Beijing said said proved the British move
was political.
Johnson on Tuesday ordered Huawei equipment to be purged
completely from Britain's 5G network by the end of 2027, risking
the ire of China by signalling that the world's biggest telecoms
equipment maker was not welcome in the West.
Washington had long been pressing for such a step, and is
still calling on other European countries to make similar moves.
"We convinced many countries, many countries - I did this
myself for the most part - not to use Huawei, because we think
it's an unsafe security risk, it's a big security risk," Trump
told reporters in the White House Rose Garden.
"I talked many countries out of using it: if they want to do
business with us, they can't use it. Just today, I believe that
UK announced that they're not going to be using it."
Britain has said that its ban on Huawei is motivated by its
own security concerns and by worries that supplies of Huawei
gear could be interrupted by U.S. sanctions.
It denied that Trump alone was responsible for the Huawei
ban. Asked about the comments, British Health Secretary Matt
Hancock said: "Well, we all know Donald Trump, don't we."
China said Trump's remark showed Johnson's decision was
about geopolitics rather than security.
"This once again demonstrates that the relevant bans on
Huawei are completely unrelated to national security, rather
this is highly politicised manipulation," foreign ministry
spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. "The UK deciding to ban the use
of Huawei will hurt the UK’s own interests. The world is big.
The UK is a relatively small place."
As Britain prepares to cast off from the European Union,
fears over the security of Huawei have forced Johnson to take
sides in the global rivalry between the United States and China.
Trump identifies China as the United States' main
geopolitical rival, and has accused the Communist Party-ruled
state of taking advantage over trade and not telling the truth
over the novel coronavirus outbreak, which he calls the "China
plague".
Washington and its allies say Huawei technology could be
used to spy for China. Huawei has denied this.
Britain has acknowledged that without equipment from Huawei
it will take it longer to roll out faster 5G mobile networks.
China said investment in Britain will suffer.
"Now I would even say this is not only disappointing - this
is disheartening," said Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to
London.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London and Martin Pollard in
Beijing; Editing by Michael Holden, Alex Richardson and Peter
Graff)
BT (BT.A)
