US grants extension to firms to work with Huawei

Washington, US - The United States has granted another 90 days for companies to cease doing business with China’s telecoms giant Huawei, saying the move would allow service providers to continue to offer coverage in rural areas.

US President Donald Trump in May effectively barred Huawei from American communications networks after Washington found the company had violated US sanctions on Iran and attempted to block a subsequent investigation.

The extension, renewing one issued in August, ‘will allow carriers to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark’, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

“The department will continue to rigorously monitor sensitive technology exports to ensure that our innovations are not harnessed by those who would threaten our national security.”

Huawei said on Monday the decision did nothing to alter the company’s view that Washington has treated it unfairly and called on the Trump administration to remove Huawei from a foreign technology blacklist.

American officials also claim Huawei is a tool of Beijing’s electronic espionage, making its equipment a threat to US national security - something the company denies.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday declined to comment on whether trade negotiations from the two countries have made progress on the Huawei issue.

“We do not require foreign governments to offer any special treatment for Chinese companies,” Geng said.

“All we ask from foreign governments is equal treatment for Chinese companies including Huawei.”

In a statement, the Chinese company said Washington’s decision to blacklist it ‘has caused more harm to the US than to Huawei’.

‘This has done significant economic harm to the American companies with which Huawei does business and has already disrupted collaboration and undermined the mutual trust on which the global supply chain depends,’ it said.

‘We call on the US government to put an end to this unjust treatment and remove Huawei from the entity list.’