The Trump administration is taking steps to ensure that a Chinese telecom company facing possible U.S. sanctions will no longer pose a national security risk to the U.S., Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured lawmakers Wednesday.
“We’re going to get this right,” Pompeo said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday. “We’re going to reduce the risk from ZTE to America. It’s still under review, what’s taking place. I’ve been part of some of the discussions, although not all of them. But I understand, at least as of yesterday afternoon, no final resolution had been reached.”
ZTE, a major Chinese phone company, was banned by the Commerce Department from purchasing American parts and technology as punishment for circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. But Trump then indicated that he might lift those sanctions in exchange for concessions in trade negotiations with China, drawing alarm from lawmakers worried about the company’s reported ties to Chinese intelligence services.
Since then, the White House has indicated it would not lift the sanctions in return for new market access concessions, and that it would require an overhaul of the company’s practices before sanctions are lifted.
“This threat has been known since 2012,” Pompeo acknowledged. “You should note nothing was done in now almost six years this administration is going to do something. We’re still working on the appropriate response and how to address it, but it’s worth noting that for six years, mostly under the previous administration, nothing was done. This administration is going to do something.”
ZTE was barred from purchasing American products in April, as punishment for lying about its role in helping rogue regimes avoid U.S. sanctions. It was a welcome decision for China hawks, who see the company as an potential partner in Chinese espionage.
“Chinese telecommunications companies provide an opportunity for the Chinese government to tamper with the United States telecommunications supply chain,” the House panel reported in 2012. “[The Committee cannot allay concerns that ZTE is aligned with Chinese military and intelligence activities or research institutes.”
Trump decided to rethink the ZTE ban after Chinese President Xi Jinping asked him to, in the context of trade talks with the U.S.
“[ZTE] buys a large portion of its parts that make up these phones — that are sold all over the world — from American companies, so when you [sanction them] you’re really hurting American companies also,” Trump said at the White House Tuesday. “But, as a favor to [Xi], I am absolutely taking a look at it.”
That potential shift has provoked opposition on Capitol Hill.
“[W]e urge you not to compromise lawful U.S. enforcement actions against serial and pre-meditated violators of U.S. law, such as ZTE,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote in a Tuesday letter to the administration signed by more than two dozen senators from both parties. “This is particularly critical when the violators are state-owned and -influenced, part and parcel of China’s policies and practices designed to strengthen its own national security innovation base, and essential tools of efforts to spread China’s influence in other countries that pose national security threats to the United States.”
