US Bans Foreign Equipment that Threatens National Security, Implicating Huawei

Have Huawei and affiliates been ostracized from the US for fear of cyberespionage?

Casting foreign technology as a serious risk to national security, US President Donald Trump has banned telecom companies in the US from deploying equipment made in foreign countries, US officials announced on Wednesday, according to The New York Times.  

The rule will apply to future transactions but it’s still not clear how bad actors are defined and how the ban will be carried out.

Washington did not identify China as one of the countries in question, but considering the US and China have been fighting a trade war and US officials have been boycotting Huawei to governments, it’s easy to piece it all together.

The executive order is a radical measure taken against technology “posing an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.”

 “This administration will do what it takes to keep America safe and prosperous and to protect America from foreign adversaries,” said the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer has been working hard on developing its 5G technology worldwide.

“For some time, the United States has abused its national power to deliberately discredit and suppress by any means specific Chinese enterprises, which is neither honorable nor fair,” responded Geng Shuang, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department of the People’s Republic of China.

“We urge the US side to stop the unreasonable suppression of Chinese enterprises on the pretext of national security and to provide a fair and non-discriminatory environment.”