US lobbies Switzerland to drop Chinese telecom giant Huawei

Sonntagszeitung cited the Swiss foreign ministry as saying that the US embassy in Bern had conducted “an exchange of views on this subject at diplomatic level.”

The embassy is cited as saying that Washington is "urging its friends and allies to ensure the security of 5G technology” with telecoms networks and providers that are not “under the control of foreign states.”

Washington recently threatened to reduce intelligence cooperation with Germany if Berlin did not stop using such cooperation. US officials have reportedly approached other governments in their bid to contain the Chinese supplier.  

In Switzerland, the Sunrise telecom company plans to build a 5G network using Chinese technology provided by Huawei, which is already a major supplier. The Shenzhen-based company works with all major Swiss telecommunication companies.