The Chinese government complained Tuesday that the Trump administration is displaying a “cold-war” way of thinking with its decision not to provide a license to a Chinese telecommunications company.
“We urge the relevant U.S. party to discard the outdated cold-war and zero-sum mentality to put the issue in perspective and stop groundless speculations and unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters Tuesday.
The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration recommended Monday that China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company, be restricted from the U.S. market on Monday. The refusal to provide a license was the culmination of an application process that began in 2011.
It also comes in the middle of trade tensions with China and fears by U.S. policymakers that Chinese tech companies will work with the Communist regime’s spy agencies.
“After significant engagement with China Mobile, concerns about increased risks to U.S. law enforcement and national security interests were unable to be resolved,” David Redl, an assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, said Monday.
Kang said the ruling was unfair.
“They should provide fair and enabling environment for Chinese enterprises’ investment and operation in the U.S. and do more to help with the mutual trust and cooperation between China and the U.S.,” he told reporters. “This serves the common interests of the two countries.”
Congressional Republicans, as well as the Federal Communications Commission, worry that the proliferation of Chinese technology in American markets could set the stage for U.S. defeats in “the cyber battles of the future,” as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio puts it. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence first identified Chinese telecom companies as an espionage threat in 2011.
“The NTIA is right to recognize the threat posed by China Mobile, especially given Beijing’s long track record of espionage, both political and economic,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Tuesday. “The FCC should be on guard against any threats to U.S. national security and block China Mobile from entering our market.”
The companies, and the Chinese government, have denied such wrongdoing.
“The Chinese government always encourages the Chinese enterprises to conduct investment and cooperation in accordance with market and international rules on the basis of compliance with the law of the destination countries of their investment,” Kang said.
