Editorial | Fair competition to benefit from easing of US ban on Huawei
- Donald Trump was only hurting his country’s own industry and companies by blocking and punishing the Chinese telecoms giant
America’s former top trade negotiator Charlene Barshefsky said the Donald Trump administration had “no policy” on China. Perhaps the most obvious example has been its overtly hostile but ultimately directionless assault on mainland 5G pioneer Huawei.
The US government has used cyberspying, hacking, “lawfare”, diplomacy and disinformation – just about every possible tactic – to discredit and undermine the telecoms company. Yet, in the latest twist to this long-standing saga, it will reverse a ban on US firms from working with Huawei to develop 5G infrastructure and protocols.
The reversal comes after top US tech giants complained they had no choice but to work with the blacklisted Chinese company because the latter holds many key patents and has been integral to the development of 5G standard protocols.
Such development has been in the works for many years, involving top global companies and many government agencies under the auspices of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an international collaboration of seven telecoms standard development organisations responsible for evolving mobile system specifications.
Conspicuously, agencies of the United States government have been absent from many of those key gatherings where international standards are developed and adopted. But Beijing, Huawei and other Chinese tech companies, have been among the most active participants, resulting in the leading role they now play.