US bans sales and import of products from five Chinese telecoms

[Alfonso Maruccia]

A hot potato: The US / China tech clash is entering an even more heated phase, with the FCC acting as a hammer against Chinese companies making network and telecom devices. They're an unacceptable risk to national security, the FCC claims.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided to effectively ban the sale and importation of telecom products made by five Chinese tech companies. The "no sale" list includes Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua, and according to FCC commissioners it would shield the US from the "unacceptable risks to national security" posed by the aforementioned product makers.

The FCC's decision concerns the authorization of devices sold in the US. Without said authorization, a product can not be offered legally in the country, thus the new rule acts as an outright ban against networking devices made in China for the international market.

The new rule follows the Secure Equipment Act of 2021 signed by President Joe Biden, which forces the FCC to "no longer review or approve any authorization application for equipment that poses an unacceptable risk to national security." Furthermore, any company will now need a US-based agent to do business there.

According to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the new rule will enforce what was previously seen as a flawed restriction process. While the FCC has previously flagged some equipment as posing a national security risk, the agency continued to "put its stamp of approval on this equipment through its equipment authorization process" for the last several years. It is a loophole that "does not make any sense," Rosenworcel said, as "there is little benefit in having these lists and these bans in place just to leave open other opportunities for this equipment to be present in our networks."

Under the new regime, a long list of devices including CCTV cameras, phones, Wi-Fi routers, smart home kits and more will lose any chance to be authorized for entering the US market. The rule should finally block efforts from bad actors to evade the FCC control, FCC commissioner Geoffrey Starks said. "If you want to be authorized to sell your equipment in the United States, we must be able to enforce our rules against you if you violate them. Full stop."

The ban against the five aforementioned Chinese companies is just the lastest effort made by the FCC to limit Beijing's attempts to permeate US networks with its cyber-warfare threats. Huawei was already banned in the US. Some FCC commissioners would even go a step further and ban the TikTok network to protect US citizens' data.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/96789-us-bans-sales-import-products-five-chinese-telecoms.html

 

[BadThad]

Communist China sucks!

 

[psycros]

I'm still pretty certain that these bans are just an effort to gain trade concessions from China. Its worth remembering that China was ALWAYS heavily protectionist: that's now they became the world's manufacturer and the main cause of job losses in the west. Regardless of motivation, any move to keep China and the other rat-fink powers out of our networks is a good thing.

 

[Uncle Al]

While I do not doubt the reasoning behind move I would certainly like to see some of the evidence supporting the move. We all know the many, many illegalities that China is credited with but in order to be 100% behind the move we should all be provided a good understanding so we can support it without question. Has anyone else actually seen any of this supporting information?

 

[CrisisDog]

Does this mean my Huawei phone is now illegal to own?

 

[Superconductor]

The Trump Administration was right ...

 

[Rocky4040]

Oh, wow Hikvision is our Security system at work at least the DVR or is it NVR system but we do not use their software to view the cameras. We also are in Canada, but it makes me wonder how long it will be before our own lame Government decides to start banning the sales of these products as well. It seems most of these Governments of the world are playing by the same playbook. It does make me wonder whose playbook that is though.

 

[kiwigraeme]

While I do not doubt the reasoning behind move I would certainly like to see some of the evidence supporting the move. We all know the many, many illegalities that China is credited with but in order to be 100% behind the move we should all be provided a good understanding so we can support it without question. Has anyone else actually seen any of this supporting information?

USA put a lot of pressure on the five eyes countries to drop Huawei etc in backbone infrastructure - all hush hush evidence - Think it's made up myself - like WMD - If they had a gotcha - they would be screaming it to get USA companies into markets around the world - probably just point to things all software can do like update etc- left over debug code

 

[NintPlayBox]

The Trump Administration was right ...

As a Democrat that I am, I approve this message....

 

[Pensiveclown]

I'm still pretty certain that these bans are just an effort to gain trade concessions from China. Its worth remembering that China was ALWAYS heavily protectionist: that's now they became the world's manufacturer and the main cause of job losses in the west. Regardless of motivation, any move to keep China and the other rat-fink powers out of our networks is a good thing.

And just because in the distant past a country was protectionist in trade is NOT a justification to target a specific country, then start banning imports of their products and trying to starve their economy of essential chipmaking equipment to prevent a country from being able to independently manufacture chips. For all the US loves to accuse every company from China that makes tech of spying for the oh so evil Chinese government, the US can't provide a shred of evidence for the "spying." Oh well, China makes a nice scapegoat for all the problems the US has anyway (and the problems that don't exist at all). I guess it's just pretty convenient for everyone to blame China.

 

[Pensiveclown]

Communist China sucks!

A communist country would be moneyless, stateless, and classless. China is none of those, and no countries have ever met any of those characteristics. Please fact check yourself.
China used to be authoritarian socialist (authleft, probably around -7,10), but modern day China is closer to authcenter with moderate laws regarding economics (authcenter, probably around 0,7).

 

[BadThad]

A communist country would be moneyless, stateless, and classless. China is none of those, and no countries have ever met any of those characteristics. Please fact check yourself.
China used to be authoritarian socialist (authleft, probably around -7,10), but modern day China is closer to authcenter with moderate laws regarding economics (authcenter, probably around 0,7).

Seriously? They are known as the CCP. I'll educate YOU: CCP = CHINA COMMUNIST PARTY

Water it down anyway you want - they are 100% communists hellbent on taking over the world. That said, people like you are just as scary due to YOUR ignorance. Either that or you're a paid Chinese troll!

 

[Rhythmattic]

The Trump Administration was right ...

Fanatical Right,
Mwhahahahahhaha

 

[pmshah]

I doubt if this will actually help in heeping the Chinese prying eyes being active in the US. A new brand opeated from some other country will pop up and go on sale here. Rebranding to circumvent rules is an old game China is good at. Why point finger at China? UK and US are buying Russian oil via a French refinery to circumvent their own embargo..

 

[d5aqoep]

China is dodgy no doubt, but US is the dodgiest of them all with always showing two faces everytime.

 

[Pensiveclown]

Seriously? They are known as the CCP. I'll educate YOU: CCP = CHINA COMMUNIST PARTY

Water it down anyway you want - they are 100% communists hellbent on taking over the world. That said, people like you are just as scary due to YOUR ignorance. Either that or you're a paid Chinese troll!

I'lll educate you. I can call pizza communist, and that doesn't make it communist. Karl Marx defined communism. Not you! Not anyone else!
Taking over the world? Very very funny. China is one of the most neutral countries there is. It never starts wars or commits war crimes (funny thing: the US can barely go a decade without finding some more civilians to bomb in a small country that needs "liberation"). Hasn't dropped nukes on cities either.
Can I know how not having the same propaganda based, ignorant, misinformed, xenophobic, blind opinions as the rest of the US makes me a troll? I don't endlessly hate on China and scream muh freedumbs, so my opinion couldnt possibly be real.
What scares me is how blindly people scapegoat other countries. I guess it's just easier to think that way for most people.

 

[Rocky4040]

And just because in the distant past a country was protectionist in trade is NOT a justification to target a specific country, then start banning imports of their products and trying to starve their economy of essential chipmaking equipment to prevent a country from being able to independently manufacture chips. For all the US loves to accuse every company from China that makes tech of spying for the oh so evil Chinese government, the US can't provide a shred of evidence for the "spying." Oh well, China makes a nice scapegoat for all the problems the US has anyway (and the problems that don't exist at all). I guess it's just pretty convenient for everyone to blame China.

I agree with this. I also think USA is overstepping their power way to freely. I guess the USA won't be happy until they start World War 3. Trust me they do not want to get into a Cyberwar with China it will be very short lived, and the US economy will be pretty much at a standstill because China hackers will cripple the US. I do hope it never comes to this because it will also affect Canada as well and many other countries.

 

[pmshah]

I agree with this. I also think USA is overstepping their power way to freely. I guess the USA won't be happy until they start World War 3. Trust me they do not want to get into a Cyberwar with China it will be very short lived, and the US economy will be pretty much at a standstill because China hackers will cripple the US. I do hope it never comes to this because it will also affect Canada as well and many other countries.

Instead of posting with less then half knowledge it would help to follow "serpentza" and "china insight" to understand ground realities, CCP's plans and what is actually going on inside China and what is their agenda of world domination.

 

[Pensiveclown]

Instead of posing with less then half knowledge it would help to follow "serpentza" and "china insight" to understand ground realities, CCP's plans and what is actually going on inside China and what is their agenda of world domination.

Oh How I Love State Sponsored Conspiracy Theories

 

[Rocky4040]

Instead of posting with less than half knowledge it would help to follow "serpentza" and "china insight" to understand ground realities, CCP's plans and what is actually going on inside China and what is their agenda of world domination.

People have been screaming that crap since the 50's or 60's it never happened. If it does happen it is because the rest of the world gave China too much power over all things electronic. Now the world mainly the USA realized this and are trying to destroy these companies. Hell, if some other country tried this to USA companies the USA would go nuts and probably send troops to take them out.

As I said the world gave China the power all things electronic it's too late to try and take it back. The USA and other countries all liked to have things made in China because the labor costs were much much lower than in their own countries. This in turn gave Companies in China time to get huge. I do agree that China itself is an overbearing country their government is communist like Russia maybe even worse but that is not the people's fault or the companies that have to survive there.