Filip Šebok on Pompeo’s Visit to Prague

Huawei has become a hot button issue across the European continent as the transition to 5G network infrastructure accelerates, heating up tensions between the United States and China.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made a point of appealing to younger democracies across Central and Eastern Europe, lauding the hard-won freedoms these nations now enjoy and warning of the threat to information freedom the Chinese communist regime and state-connected enterprises entail.

MapInfluenCE analyst Filip Šebok weighed in on Pompeo’s visit to Prague for the South China Morning Post, noting the still uncertain position of the Czech Republic as many governments have begun to render final positions on 5G provision.

“Pompeo finds a really attentive audience in Prague, jumping into a very heated public debate on China where the ‘hawkish’ views on China developed quite independently of what is happening in the US,” Šebok said. “It remains to be seen if this will also push the Czech government to make a clearer decision on Chinese 5G providers.”