Pelosi remarks on NATO commitment and Huawei

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that the United States' commitment to NATO and to multilateralism was "ironclad".

Speaking with the US delegation at the Munich Security Conference, Pelosi said, "We want to remove all doubt that the United States values the transatlantic relationship and its value to the security, not only of our country but to global security as well."

She also appealed for countries to steer clear of Chinese tech giant Huawei as they build their next-generation cellular networks.

"This is very dangerous," Pelosi said. "This is about choosing autocracy over democracy on the information highway. It's about putting the state police in the pocket of every consumer in these countries because of the Chinese way."

Pelosi's remarks underlined bipartisan suspicion of Huawei in the United States.

The Trump administration has raised national security concerns about Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, and is aggressively lobbying Western allies to bar the company from wireless, high-speed networks.

Trump administration officials, including Cabinet secretaries, say Huawei can give the Chinese government backdoor access to data, allegations the company rejects.

The US has been trying to have European nations ban the gear from next-generation cellular networks, but countries are shying away from banning it altogether.

Britain, notably, announced last month that it would allow Huawei to participate in certain non-sensitive areas of its networks, and European Union 5G guidelines fall far short of addressing US concerns.

(Image credit-AP)