LONDON: British officials have discussed supplies of 5G networking equipment with companies in South Korea and Japan as part of a bid to develop alternatives to China’s Huawei Technologies.

The talks with Japan’s NEC and Samsung Electronics are part of a government plan announced last year to diversify Britain’s range of 5G suppliers. Britain designated Huawei as a high-risk vendor in January, capping its 5G involvement at 35 percent and excluding it from the data-heavy core of the network.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under renewed pressure from the US and MPs in his own party, who want the UK to abandon any offers to Huawei.