China Unicom has become the latest Chinese telecommunications business giant to be expelled from the United States due to serious suspicions and significant concerns of potential national security breaches and various practices related to corporate espionage.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC, for its acronym in English) assured a few weeks ago, through a statement, that it voted unanimously to revoke the authorization for the company’s US unit to operate in the national territory. The company, therefore, must stop providing telecommunications services in the United States within a maximum period of 60 days.
There is already a precedent with another company
The announcement comes just after its biggest rival, China Telecom, had its license to operate in the United States revoked in October. FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel said there had been growing evidence, and with it growing concern, that Chinese state-owned carriers posed a real threat to the security of US telecommunications networks.
China Unicom immediately released a statement assuring that its activities on US soil are backed by a good record of compliance with relevant laws and regulations, as well as an efficient provision of telecommunications services and solutions that have always met the expectations of its thousands of customers. .
Bordering on diplomatic conflict
Chinese technology and telecommunications companies have been targeted in recent years by US authorities on national security grounds. In November, President Joe Biden signed a law that prevents companies considered a security threat from receiving new licenses to operate in the telecommunications field.
Under the Secure Equipment Act, the FCC should no longer review applications from companies deemed a threat. This means that companies as important as Huawei or ZTE (all of them Chinese) cannot be contracted to install telecommunications networks in the United States .
Last November, the US government added a dozen more Chinese companies to its restricted trade list, citing national security and foreign policy concerns . Then Washington assured that some of the companies are helping to develop the Chinese army’s quantum computing program and, therefore, pose a direct threat to the country’s economic, military and geostrategic interests.
A few weeks later, Washington revoked China Telecom’s US license, citing the same national security concerns. Several US officials have claimed that the control of the company by the Chinese government gave it the opportunity to access, store, interrupt and/or divert communications that were produced in the country. This, in turn, could allow China to engage in activities related to espionage and other practices harmful to the integrity of the United States. However, behind the security concerns is the trade war in which both countries are immersed.
