The US on Friday formally lifted a crippling ban on exports to China’s ZTE Corp (中興通訊), rescuing the smartphone maker from the brink of collapse after it was denied key components.
The US Department of Commerce said that it would continue to monitor the company to prevent further violations of US sanctions on Iran and North Korea.
“While we lifted the ban on ZTE, the department will remain vigilant as we closely monitor ZTE’s actions to ensure compliance with all US laws and regulations,” US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
However, the move to reverse the harsh penalties, made at US President Donald Trump’s insistence, has left US lawmakers irate.
The US Congress has taken steps to keep the ban in place and accused Trump of rewarding a company that repeatedly flouted US law, lied to authorities and engaged in espionage.
The about-face to rescue the company created a stark contrast with the escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing.
The department in April banned US companies from supplying ZTE with crucial components, forcing it to halt operations, after officials found further violations, even after reaching a settlement in March last year over the initial complaints.
PERSONAL FAVOR
However, as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Trump ordered the department to ease the penalties on ZTE.
In an agreement struck last month, Washington agreed to lift the export ban if ZTE paid an additional US$1 billion fine — beyond the US$892 million penalty imposed last year.
The company was also required to replace its board of directors, retain outside monitors and put US$400 million in escrow to cover any future violations — a final step that it took this week.
US Senator Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, lambasted the reversal in a statement this week, saying that the US military and spy agencies have branded ZTE an “ongoing threat” to US national security.
“This sweetheart deal not only ignores these serious issues, it lets ZTE off the hook for evading sanctions against Iran and North Korea with a slap on the wrist,” Warner said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last