China vows to protect companies as U.S. moves forward with ban

BEIJING – Following tighter restrictions imposed by the U.S. in the ban on Chinese telecom equipment, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has indicated it will safeguard the rights of its firms.

In late November the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced expanded restrictions on Chinese telecom equipment, naming five companies that will be subject to the ban including Huawei, Dahua, Hikvision, ZTE Corporation, and Hytera Communications. Last week during a regular press conference Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson Shu Jueting fired back at the ban saying, “China will adopt necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights of domestic firms.”

That follows on the heels of a meeting between China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao in November with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Bali to discuss strategic issues facing the countries and other regional issues. During their meeting Wentao raised his concerns over the restrictions imposed by the U.S. and urged the two countries to consider a more open attitude with regards to economic cooperation (This occurred prior to the current enforced restrictions).

Germany has chosen not to follow suit with the U.S. in instituting a blanket ban on Chinese telecom equipment from the relevant companies and instead will be judging each product on a case-by-case basis. That’s despite recommendations by Germany’s economy minister to exclude components from authoritarian states in critical infrastructure according to a strategy document viewed by Reuters. German reliance on Russian oil has been a point of contention during recent tensions over the invasion of Ukraine.

In other relevant news the U.S. chose to drop charges against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou ending 4 years of prosecution resulting from charges Wanzhou misled creditors to expand their business in Iran, violating American trade sanctions. Wanzhou struck a deal with prosecutors in 2021 which would allow her to return home and defer prosecution if she admitted to her crimes.