US to cooperate with Huawei on 5G
▶ Commerce Department revises rules, but sticks to ‘America First’
The US Department of Commerce announced a new rule on Monday allowing US companies to cooperate with Chinese technology company Huawei on 5G telecom standards.
Analysts said the move shows that the US has realized the cost of refusing to cooperate with the world’s largest patent contributor to the next-generation mobile technology, rather than a relaxation of US government’s crackdown on Huawei.
Under the new rule, US companies’ technologies that would not have required a license to be disclosed to Huawei before the company’s placement on the US Entity List in
May 2019 can now be disclosed for the purpose of standards development, according to a statement on the Department of Commerce website.
“This is typical US practice that always aims for ‘America First’,” said Ma Jihua, a veteran industry analyst and close Huawei observer. “This action shows that the US government hasn’t eased its assault on Huawei but is simply taking advantage of Huawei’s leading place in the industry,” he said.
Just a month ago, the US Department of Commerce made a fresh move to suppress Huawei by proposing a new rule to require licenses for sales to Huawei for semiconductor chips that are made abroad with US technologies. Details of the rule are expected to be revealed in mid-July.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ rhetoric reflected some American politicians’ narrow-minded “America First” view”.
William Jones, Washington bureau chief for US-based magazine Executive Intelligence Review (EIR), told the Global Times in a recent interview that the US’ attack on Huawei is a clear attempt to undermine China’s technological advances.
“As the US is currently unprepared to deal with China on an equal basis, it simply tries to bully other countries into following its lead,” he said.
Over the past year, the US’ squeezing of Huawei from global supply chains has paradoxically put many US companies into an awkward position.
On a global basis, Huawei has the highest number of declared 5G patents at 2,386 patent families, followed by LG with 1,388 patent families and Samsung with 1,353 patent families, according to a recent survey by technology research firm GreyB Services Pte and analytics firm Amplified AI Inc. USbased Qualcomm is No.5.
Meanwhile, many other countries are increasingly moving to ignore the US government demands.
In January, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson defied US President Donald Trump and allowed Huawei to build parts of the 5G network in the UK.
As the extent of Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G development is under discussion again, Scott Petty, chief technology officer of UK telecom services provider Vodafone, said that replacing Huawei equipment would deal a heavy blow to the country’s 5G rollout, Financial Times reported.
Matthew Rous, group chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), told the Global Times on Tuesday via e-mail that the CBBC welcomes the UK government’s decision to allow Huawei to build the non-core parts of the country’s 5G networks.
Early in February, Huawei said it had obtained 91 5G commercial contracts worldwide, of which over half came from Europe.