US’ 4th extension shows Huawei’s strength: industry insiders
A series of extensions allowing US companies to continue doing business with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei shows that the US market can neither decouple the company nor defeat it, industry insiders said.
The US Department of Commerce announced on Thursday that it was issuing a 45-day extension, delaying a ban on some US companies selling goods to Huawei. The move came together with new charges against Huawei, with the US accusing it of stealing technology from six other companies on Thursday.
The fourth extension shows the contradictory attitude of US politicians, said Fu Liang, a Beijing-based industry expert.
“The US can’t circumvent Huawei given its leading position in the global telecommunications sector. On the other hand, US politicians are leveraging this to contain China’s technological development,” Fu said.
If the US continues to restrict its companies from doing business with Huawei in the long run, the US will bear the brunt of the damage as it has forced Huawei to accelerate its technological self-reliance or seek alternative suppliers from other countries, Fu said.
Due to the price advantage of Huawei’s products, the company’s presence in the US is largely in rural areas.
Responding to the latest US charges, Huawei told the Global Times on Friday that this new indictment is “part of the US Justice Department’s attempt to irrevocably damage Huawei’s reputation and its business for reasons related to competition rather than law enforcement.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang on Friday urged the US to immediately cease its unreasonable oppression of Chinese firms. This “economic bullying” denies market economy principles and will harm the interests of US firms, Geng said.
Amid the virus outbreak, Huawei’s smartphone sales and short-term production may sustain a blow, but will quickly rebound, said Ma Jihua, a veteran industry analyst.
He noted if the epidemic can be controlled effectively by March, Huawei can sustain shipments of smartphones with one-month stock and there won’t be a great impact to its annual performance.
The US Department of Justice filed new charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei on Thursday. This time, the choreographed accusation is “racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets,” “using fraud and deception to misappropriate sophisticated technology from US,” and violating “the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.” The charges also “reveal Huawei’s business in North Korea and assistance to the government of Iran in performing domestic surveillance.”
The Wall Street Journal commented that “another front in the Trump administration’s battle against the Chinese telecommunications firm” has been opened. It’s clear that the US accusation was made out of political reasons, rather than law enforcement.
It is really not a glorious thing that the world’s most powerful country is abusing its state power in a “fight” against a private Chinese enterprise. Not surprisingly, the US has still not offered any evidence to support its charges. Huawei responded on Friday, calling the US move “both unfounded and unfair.”
Also on Thursday, The US Department of Commerce again extended the temporary general license, allowing American companies to do business with Huawei.
This is the department’s fourth extension. It shows that Washington is resolved to cracking down on the firm, but many small US telecom companies cannot survive without Huawei. As a result, the Department of Justice raised a stick while the Department of Commerce took out a carrot.
The new allegation against Huawei means US measures to suppress Huawei had entirely failed. If the previous measures had worked, the US would not have to find excuses to bring new charges against Huawei. Huawei has survived the US comprehensive suppression worldwide. Huawei’s 5G competitiveness has not been weakened, nor has its market shrunk. Isn’t this the US failure?
The US also knows that it cannot contain Huawei alone. Reality has repeatedly proven that Huawei can survive even without the US. In the past few years, Washington has been intimidating other countries, trying to make them reject Huawei. But no matter how hard the US tries, it just cannot pull an anti-Huawei frontline.
Everybody knows US accusations against Huawei are unwarranted and US suppression of Huawei is out of malicious intent. But if other countries ban Huawei, it will jeopardize their own interests. Will the US compensate their losses? Definitely not.
The US crackdown on Huawei is doomed to fail. Such naked unethical and unjustified economic bullying, if exploited, will move human civilization backward.