The United States pressed France on Wednesday to take "strong security measures" against potential breaches from 5G services provided by Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, saying failure to do so could imperil intelligence exchanges.
Concerns about Huawei's 5G rollout topped the agenda of a third US-France cybersecurity meeting, Washington's top cyber diplomat Robert Strayer told reporters in Paris.
The United States did not ask France for a Huawei ban, he said, but for strong protections against potential "malicious intrusions" from software and firmware updates of any systems provided by the company.
If France failed to take adequate steps, said Strayer, the United States "will have to reassess how we conduct operations" that require sensitive information-sharing including joint military exercises and counter-terrorism operations.
"The real risk that we see is that if there are unsecure 5G networks coming from untrusted vendors, that that could compromise the data that we want to share with those partners" in NATO, including France and Germany, he said.
5G, or fifth generation, is the latest, high-speed generation of cellular mobile communications.
There has been intense debate in Europe about whether or not to exclude Huawei from developing 5G mobile networks.
Critics, led by Washington, say Huawei is too close to Beijing and its equipment could be used as a tool for spying -- a contention the company strongly rejects.
US President Donald Trump has already ordered American firms to cease doing business with market leader Huawei, and has urged allies to follow suit.
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