FCC: China’s ZTE Poses a National Security Threat

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday rejected a decision by the Chinese company ZTE to reconsider its determination that it poses a national security threat to U.S. communications networks, Reuters reported. ZTE has yet to respond to the FCC’s decision.

It is reported that the FCC had announced in June that it had formally determined that China’s Huawei and ZTE posed a national security threat, banned U.S. companies from using an $8.3 billion government grant to purchase equipment from the two Chinese firms, and warned that it could shut down the U.S. operations of Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies China Telecom and China Unicom.

President Trump signed an executive order last May banning U.S. companies from using telecom equipment made by companies that pose a national security risk and blacklisting China’s Huawei for trade.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission had said last week that it would postpone the deadline for its decision on Huawei’s request to reconsider posing a national security threat until Dec. 11, “in order to fully consider the voluminous record.”