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Trump ramps up battle against Chinese telecom giant Huawei
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Donald Trump stepped up his battle
against Huawei Wednesday, effectively barring the Chinese telecom giant from
the US market and adding it to a blacklist restricting US sales to the firm
amid an escalating trade war with Beijing.
An executive order signed by the president prohibits purchase or use of
equipment from companies that pose “an unacceptable risk to the national
security of the United States or the security and safety of United States
persons.”
“This administration will do what it takes to keep America safe and
prosperous and to protect America from foreign adversaries,” White House
spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
A senior White House official insisted that no particular country or
company was targeted in the “company- and country-agnostic” declaration.
However, the measure — announced just as a US-China trade war deepens —
is widely seen as prompted by already deep concerns over an alleged spying
threat from Huawei.
“Restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US
more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the US to
inferior yet more expensive alternatives,” Huawei said in a statement.
“In addition, unreasonable restrictions will infringe upon Huawei’s rights
and raise other serious legal issues,” it said.
The Commerce Department followed up with a more direct hit on the tech
giant, adding it to a blacklist that will make it much harder for the firm to
use crucial US components in its array of phones, telecom gear, databases and
other electronics.
Canada has also been dragged into the spat as it arrested a Huawei
executive on a US extradition warrant related to Iran sanctions violations in
December.
In what is seen as retaliation from Beijing, a former Canadian diplomat,
Michael Kovrig, and a businessman, Michael Spavor, were detained on national
security grounds, with Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reporting Thursday
that they have now been formally arrested.
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– ‘RIP Huawei’ –
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said it would add Huawei
and its affiliates to its “entity list” over alleged Iran sanctions
violations.
The listing requires US firms to get a license from BIS for the sale or
transfer of American technology to a company or person on the list.
“A license may be denied if the sale or transfer would harm US national
security or foreign policy interests,” a Commerce Department statement said.
“This will prevent American technology from being used by foreign-owned
entities in ways that potentially undermine US national security or foreign
policy interests,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
US Senator Tom Cotton, from Trump’s Republican Party, tweeted: “@Huawei
5G, RIP. Thanks for playing.”
Huawei did not immediately comment on the blacklisting.
US officials have been trying to persuade allies not to allow China a role
in building next-generation 5G mobile networks, warning that doing so would
result in restrictions on sharing of information with the United States.
US government agencies are already banned from buying equipment from
Huawei, a rapidly expanding leader in the 5G technology.
Beijing was already furious about US moves to limit use of equipment from
Chinese firms including Huawei and another company ZTE.
“For some time, the United States has abused its national power to
deliberately discredit and suppress by any means specific Chinese
enterprises, which is neither honorable nor fair,” foreign ministry spokesman
Geng Shuang said ahead of Trump’s executive order.
“We urge the US side to stop the unreasonable suppression of Chinese
enterprises on the pretext of national security and to provide a fair and
non-discriminatory environment,” the spokesman said.
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– Trojan horse –
The US portrayal of Huawei as a national security danger dovetails with
Washington’s wider complaint that Chinese companies are unfairly protected by
the state, making fair trade impossible.
The move also threatens to further flare trade tensions just days after
the US more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports, which
was met with a retaliation in kind by Beijing.
Washington and some European allies fear that Chinese economic expansion,
particularly in the Belt and Road global infrastructure program, is part of a
bid for geopolitical dominance.
Amid those worries, Huawei is portrayed as a Trojan horse that could
leverage its ultra-rapid telecoms technology into a Chinese government spy
network reaching deep into American society and business fields.
“Chinese telecom companies like Huawei effectively serve as an
intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party,” Senator Cotton
said after Trump’s emergency declaration.
“The administration is right to restrict the use of their products.”
So far, the US campaign to lobby other countries to turn their backs on
Huawei has had mixed results.
Even Britain, one of Washington’s closest allies, is mired in debate over
whether to follow the US lead or allow Huawei to develop the 5G networks.
On Tuesday, the chairman of the company, Liang Hua, visited London to
insist that Huawei will “commit ourselves, to commit our equipment to meeting
the no-spy, no back-door standards.”
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