Tech

The US ban on Chinese technology is no longer in effect


In 2019, the White House declare that the phone and internet equipment of Chinese tech companies should be removed from every corner of the United States because it poses an unacceptable risk by the Chinese government.

More than three years later, most of those devices are still around.

Today, I will look at how the US has handled equipment from two Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE. I will explore what this can tell us about America’s ability to deal effectively with other Chinese technology concerns, such as apps like TikTokand its attempt to become more self-sufficient in computer chips production and design.

Technology will no longer be the quasi-monopoly of the United States as it has been for the past half-century, and the United States needs to find and implement plans to help it benefit from global technological developments while while maintaining American safety and innovation. But the story of the Chinese device shows that we still have a long way to go.

Some US officials believe that continuing to use equipment from Huawei and ZTE is a deathbed threat to the national security of the United States. Other policy experts I spoke to say it poses a negligible risk and may not be worth trying to get rid of all devices at once.

What is clear is that the US said that the ban on Chinese technology was urgent and then couldn’t be done.

Discarding Huawei and ZTE equipment, which are used mainly in rural areas of the US, will never be simple, and complications related to the pandemic have made things worse. However, critics of the US approach also argue that the way officials handled it harmed American businesses and consumers without making the country much safer.

Let me go back to how this all started. For about a decade, U.S. officials have repeatedly said that Huawei and ZTE phone and internet equipment could be used as gateways for The Chinese government spied on or disrupted essential US communications. Those warnings convinced America’s biggest internet and phone companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, to stay away from buying such devices.

Nearly everyone in the US government and business community working on this issue says it’s the right thing to do. (Have little consensus on the wisdom of restrictions on Huawei smartphones.) Huawei and ZTE have always said those security concerns are unfounded and that the US government has never provided public evidence of their allegations.

Smaller companies, mainly in rural areas, are not discouraged from buying equipment from Huawei and ZTE. A sizable minority of them continue to buy items from the companies, such as similar devices such as home internet modems and devices for broadcasting cellular signals around.

The US government claims that is too much of a risk. Starting in 2019, the US effectively ordered all companies with Huawei and ZTE equipment replace all. The government promises to pay taxpayers to help pay for comparable equipment from US or European companies.

The Federal Communications Commission once estimated the cost of replacing Chinese equipment about 2 billion dollars. An updated estimate disclosure last month showed it was back 5 billion dollars. It will take time for the FCC and Congress to figure out how to pay the small telecom companies that they think they need. Meanwhile, many such suppliers have not even started replacing equipment from Huawei and ZTE, like Politico. report last month.

There’s a lot of pointing fingers on how this happened. Congress imposed a mandate on small companies, and then disobeyed the amount. American officials wondered what kind of Huawei and ZTE equipment should be replaced. Delays and scrambled official messages slowed the process.

Naomi Wilson, Asia policy expert at ITI, a trade consortium of US technology and telecommunications companies, told me that the first estimates of equipment replacement are the best guesses. but proved too low. Inflation, supply chain problems and the US-China trade war have raised prices.

One big question is whether this movie can be avoided. I asked Paul Triolo, senior vice president of China for strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group, if the US had a good plan with wobbly execution or a misguided starting strategy. He said it was a bit of both.

Triolo says the US government may have phased out Huawei and ZTE equipment over the years – similar to the UK’s approach – and quickly remove certain types of Chinese equipment or devices near sensitive locations such as near military installations. While the US says it needs to quickly remove the risk of the device, all of that remains in place, he said.

Triolo and several other China policy experts I spoke to were concerned that the US approach to Chinese technology not always efficient or focused about the right things.

The US is also concerned about the possibility that TikTok or other apps originating from Chinese companies extract sensitive data about Americans or spread Chinese government propaganda. Policymakers have yet to figure out how to address those concerns or make much progress on China’s relentless cyberattacks on US government agencies and companies.

Officials do not always have coherent messages about building a homegrown computer chip industry against China. And if the US wants to keep American technology strong, it can do more to Immigration support of tech professionals or abolish China’s tariffs hurt Americans.

In theory, the US can do it all. Officials can shield the country from potential foreign threats and dedicate the time, money, and intelligence needed to support the best policies for American innovation. Instead, we have bits and parts that don’t add up much.

Read previous On Tech newsletters on how the US has responded to Chinese technology:


  • Taiwan rolls out the most important electronics on Earth: My Colleagues Paul Mozur and Raymond Zhong explain why advanced computer chips are part of the backdrop for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan this week.

  • There is no simple blueprint for internet fame and wealth: How-to courses suggest people can become famous online by paying freelancers to create YouTube videos with similar ingredients, such as a storyteller. unseen, a catchy headline or a top 10 celebrity list. My colleague Nico Grant report that this irretrievable proposition can certainly lose.

  • She makes a living online. Drew Afualo makes some of the most popular videos on TikTok by defaming people with words that show racism, fatphobia, and vanity, Bloomberg News report. (Registration may be required.)

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