Two US lawmakers criticise watered-down Senate bill that allows ZTE to survive
A Republican and a Democratic senator said the failure to reinstate penalties on ZTE threatens US national security
Two US senators who led an effort to reinstate punishing penalties on ZTE sharply criticised their colleagues for dropping a provision in a defence spending bill that would have reimposed the ban.
By a vote of 87-10, the Senate on Wednesday passed a US$716 billion defence appropriation bill that did not include the amendment reinstating the ZTE supplier ban that US President Donald Trump had ordered lifted.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who has long been critical of ZTE, voted against the annual military spending bill for the first time in his career.
“In my seven years in the Senate I have never voted against the National Defense Authorization Act until today,” Rubio said in a tweet on Wednesday. “The decision to cave and allow ZTE to stay in business in [the] US gives China an unacceptable ability to threaten our telecommunications network.”
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said after the passage of the bill that he “remained deeply disappointed that Republican conferees caved to White House pressure and ZTE’s lobbying efforts at the expense of our national security.”
“I will continue working with like-minded colleagues in the Senate to hold ZTE accountable,” Van Hollen, who voted yes on the defence bill, said in a statement.
Van Hollen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for details about what specific steps the senator might be considering.
