CAIRO — As part of the conflict between Washington and Beijing over the introduction of 5G networks in the world, China’s Ambassador to Cairo Liao Liqiang launched during a press conference Oct. 25 a sharp attack on the United States and accused it of establishing spying platforms and suppressing the Chinese partners wishing to introduce the 5G technology.

The Chinese attack comes in the wake of statements made Oct. 23 by Keith Krach, the US State Department’s undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, during a press conference at the US Embassy in Cairo, in which he warned against using Chinese companies to launch 5G networks.

“They (Chinese companies) offer cheap to negligible prices, but in the long run, the cost will be exorbitant because it is a matter of data protection,” Krach said.

Krach further called on the Egyptian companies to boycott Chinese companies, saying these companies are tools used by the Chinese government to steal and employ customer information for the benefit of Chinese security services. He called on them to join a “clean network” that protects their data instead.