The US Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a plan to ban approvals for equipment in US telecommunications networks from Chinese companies deemed to be national security threats, such as Huawei Technologie Inc (華為) and ZTE Inc (中興).
The vote drew opposition from Beijing.
Under proposed rules that won initial approval, the FCC could also revoke prior equipment authorizations issued to Chinese companies.
A Huawei spokesperson in an e-mail called the FCC revision “misguided and unnecessarily punitive.”
Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said that the new measures would “exclude untrustworthy equipment from our communications networks... We have left open opportunities for [Huawei and other Chinese equipment] use in the United States through our equipment authorization process. So here we propose to close that door.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said that the commission has approved more than 3,000 applications from Huawei since 2018.
The FCC action would prohibit all future authorizations for communications equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security.
“The United States, without any evidence, still abuses national security and state power to suppress Chinese companies,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said.
“Once again we urge the US to stop stretching the concept of national security and stop politicizing economic issues,” Zhao said at a regular media briefing in Beijing.
In March, the FCC designated five Chinese companies as posing a threat to national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting US communications networks.
A group of lawmakers, including US senators Ed Markey and Marco Rubio, praised the FCC action, saying it mirrors the goals of bipartisan legislation.
They said that the FCC voted “to put national security first by keeping compromised Chinese equipment out of US telecommunications networks.”
The affected companies included the previously designated Huawei and ZTE, as well as Hytera Communications Corp (海能達通訊), Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (海康威視數字技術) and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co (浙江大華技術).
Huawei said that “blocking the purchase of equipment, based on a ‘predictive judgement,’ related to country of origin or brand is without merit, discriminatory and will do nothing to protect the integrity of US communications networks or supply chains.”
In August last year, the US government barred federal agencies from buying goods or services from any of the five Chinese companies.
In 2019, the US placed Huawei, Hikvision and other firms on its economic blacklist.
Last year, the FCC designated Huawei and ZTE as national security threats to communications networks — a declaration that barred US firms from tapping an US$8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies.
The FCC in December last year finalized rules requiring carriers with ZTE or Huawei equipment to “rip and replace” that equipment.
It proposed a reimbursement program for that effort and US lawmakers that month approved US$1.9 billion to fund it.
Rosenworcel said that the FCC is to vote next month to finalize the rules overseeing the reimbursement fund.
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