FP: US elimination of Huawei, ZTE technologies is unsustainable

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Foreign Policy
2 Nov 2022 15:47

Washington has repeatedly voiced its resentment towards Chinese tech - but is this a sustainable policy?

Washington has repeatedly voiced its resentment towards Chinese tech, namely Huawei and ZTE.

Foreign Policy wrote that national security leaders are warning that technologies produced by Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese companies could be employed as pipelines for foreign espionage, hacking, and other notorieties.

State and local government agencies across the United States are still purchasing and installing Chinese equipment - however, according to FP, if US policymakers do not construct a more unified defense against foreign technology threats, the country will remain technologically vulnerable.

US government agencies have been forbidden from using Huawei, ZTE and three other Chinese companies designated as national security threats since 2019. Recently, the FBI uncovered that Huawei's technological equipment could disrupt or intercept communications related to the US military's nuclear arsenal.

However, in a recent report FP published with Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, findings suggested that state and local officials have continued installing products from these companies in the networks of schools, hospitals, transit systems, and governmental facilities around the world.

This comes to show that despite Washington's attempted elimination of Chinese technology, it is simply not sustainable. FP writes that eliminating a particular product from any supply chain "is no easy feat" due to the vastness and complexity of the global technological industry. However, that is not all - funds and expertise play a significant role: "Aside from transparency issues, many state and local agencies also have limited funds and technical expertise."

Last year in October, US President Joe Biden signed a legislation, dubbed the Secure Equipment Act, that bans companies that are regarded as "security threats" from obtaining equipment licenses from US regulators. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under the new law, is required to no longer review nor accept any authorization application for equipment that "poses a threat to national security" - namely by Huawei and ZTE.