Eswatini signs up to Trump’s anti-China ‘Clean Network’
Eswatini – formerly Swaziland – has become the first, and possibly last, country in Africa to sign a pledge to join the outgoing Trump administration’s anti-China “Clean Network” programme.
The “Clean Network” agreement means Eswatini has agreed not to procure 5G network infrastructure from Chinese vendors, including Huawei Technologies, that the US alleges have links to the Chinese Communist Party and to the Chinese military establishment. In response, Huawei said that not only has it been operating in Africa for more than two decades but that it has a “good record in security” and is trusted by businesses and governments across the continent.
The US/Eswatini agreement was signed last Friday between US undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment Keith Krach and Eswatini’s acting minister of communications, Manqoba Khumalo.
