US lawmakers want ban on Huawei and ZTE

The ban would prohibit the sale of chips or other "made in the USA" electronic components to Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese telecommunications companies. "Huawei is the information gathering arm for the Chinese Communist Party". Ren Zhengfei: We would never do any harm to other nations. Huawei is also accused of stealing trade secrets.

Washington (AsiaNews) - A group of US lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, has proposed a law that would prohibit the sale of chips or other "made in the USA" electronic components to Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese telecommunications companies. The reason is that they violate the sanctions imposed by the United States or US export laws.

ZTE and Huawei have long been accused of violating the US embargo against Iran. Last year,  ZTE agreed to pay a fine of 1 billion dollars to the United States for violating this embargo. The second is also suspected of working closely with the Chinese secret services.

Tom Cotton, a Republican senator among the drafters of the proposed law, states that "Huawei is indeed the intelligence gathering arm for the Chinese Communist Party, whose chief founder was an engineer working for the People's Liberation Army (PLA)".

Targeted by all these criticisms, days ago Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei (see photo) held a press conference at the company's headquarters in Shenzhen, where he denied that his company was used by the Chinese government for espionage. He said that while supporting the Chinese Communist Party, "it would never do any harm to other nations". " Huawei will “certainly say no” to any request from China’s government to access data or create back doors to the networks, he said, adding that “we would rather shut Huawei down than do anything that would damage the interests of our customers to seek our own gains.”

The tug of war between the US government and Huawei is a further chapter of the tariff war with China. Analysts suspect that the US wants to curb the development of the largest telecommunications company in the world. The fact remains that Huawei has violated the embargo on Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Seattle federal authorities are investigating the theft of trade secrets by Huawei against the T-Mobile US.

At the request of the United States, on December 1, Canada arrested Ren Zhengfei's daughter, Meng Wanzhou, on charges of violating the US embargo on Iran. At present Meng is on bail in Canada, in her million dollar apartment in Vancouver. If she were extradited to the US, she risks 30 years in prison.

• china
• usa
• economy
• huawei
• zte
• espionage
• embargo
• duty war
• ren zhengfei
• meng wanzhou
• telecommunications