US President Donald Trump on Wednesday extended by another year an executive order that prohibits US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by firms deemed a national security threat ” a prohibition that includes Chinese giant Huawei Technologies.
The original executive order, which gave the president the authority to regulate commerce in response to a national emergency, did not name China or Chinese companies specifically.
However, soon after the order was signed last May, the Commerce Department added China’s leading 5G provider, Huawei Technologies, and 70 affiliates to a so-called “Entity List”, essentially barring the Chinese company from doing business in the US.
The US government claimed Huawei’s equipment posed a security risk because the company might be obliged to give up information to Beijing, an accusation Huawei has repeatedly denied.
Since Trump signed the order last year, the US has been trying to catch up on 5G, the next-generation mobile technology that promises wireless connectivity 100 times faster than current standards and could enable the development of autonomous driving, smart cities and virtual reality.
Whoever gets ahead in the current race could dominate the global technology in the future.
While China has its 5G champion in Huawei, Finland has Nokia and Sweden has Ericsson. The US, however, has no hardware maker ready to come to market with comparable scale and depth.
Last week, global tech companies joined forces to urge US lawmakers to fund 5G development using open radio access to minimise the world’s reliance on China.
Trump’s order said foreign rivals were taking advantage of the US by exploiting vulnerabilities in the communications technology sector.
“This Executive Order declares a national emergency with respect to the threats against information and communications technology and services in the United States and delegates authority to the Secretary of Commerce to prohibit transactions posing an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,” the White House said in a statement.
Huawei’s inclusion in the Commerce Department’s list was based upon US Justice Department allegations that the company violated US sanctions for selling products to Iran, the White House said.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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