US worried about Chinese intelligence gathering: Perry

The United States is worried about Chinese intelligence-gathering activities, says US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, amid an ongoing row between Washington and Beijing over what American officials insist is a Chinese espionage campaign through telecommunications giant Huawei.

Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem al-Quds, Perry said Washington was actively working to make them understand the danger of cooperation with China.

“The thing we try to impress upon all of our allies is that there are areas that China is involved with, particularly with the collection of information, that we have great concern about,” he said on Monday.  “The cybersecurity side of things [is] the bigger issue.”

“We want our allies to be knowledgeable about the activities that the Chinese are involved with,” he added.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that barred Huawei, the world’s biggest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, from the US market.

The decision came after the White House accused Huawei of spying for the Chinese government through its sophisticated 5G technology, an allegation strongly denied by both the firm and Beijing.

PressTV-France, UK, Germany defy US-led ban on Huawei

Several European nations have decided to break with US efforts to ban major Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei from their markets.

The accusations against Huawei are largely deemed as an extension of the ongoing trade war between China and the United States, where the two sides have imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on Chinese and American goods.

Washington, despite having blacklisted Huawei and dozens of its affiliates, has failed to persuade allies to take similar action and cut ties with the company.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in May that Paris would not block Huawei as it would not be appropriate to wage a technological war or a trade battle.

Germany and the UK have also rejected US calls to abandon work with Huawei on building 5G networks.

The US has also warned Israel that any cooperation with Huawei could have ramifications on security cooperation between the two allies. Tel Aviv, however, says it welcomes investments by foreign companies.

Perry on Monday advised Israeli officials to “make the right decisions about any investments.”

“There’s a difference between somebody coming in and investing, and the issue of cybersecurity and the collection of information that will go back and be given to the Communist Chinese government.”

The statements came days after a senior Pentagon official called China the biggest threats to America’s national security.

John Rood, the US undersecretary of defense for policy, said that China topped the list of the threats to the US as it had the ability to change life in America for “good or ill.”

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China is “the one country, the largest country, with the ability to change our way of life in the United States, and change the global order, for good or ill,” he told the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado on Saturday.

“It's promoting an authoritarian model, and it's closely coupled with military activities: Strategic military activities, intelligence activities and the line between commercial activities in today’s China and those of the state is a very, very thin line that exists mostly on paper,” Rood added.

Beijing and Washington have come to blows over a series of issues ranging from trade to ties with Taiwan over the past few months.

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