Huawei and ZTE pose security threat and ‘cannot be trusted’, US Attorney General William Barr says, backing ban on fund
- US Federal Communications Commission is proposing to make rural wireless carriers remove and replace equipment from Chinese telecoms giants
- Barr labels Huawei and ZTE national security threats, citing ‘their own track record, as well as the practices of the Chinese government’
US Attorney General William Barr, insisting that Huawei Technologies and ZTE “cannot be trusted”, has thrown his support behind the US communications regulator’s plan to ban a government fund that lets US rural wireless carriers purchase products and services from the two Chinese telecoms suppliers.
In a November 13 letter sent to Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Barr said the Chinese firms’ “track record, as well as the practices of the Chinese government, demonstrate that Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted”.
Preventing the US$8.5 billion fund from giving the companies an influential role in the building of American 5G infrastructure “will help secure domestic communications networks from Chinese spying”, Barr said, labelling the companies a threat to US national security.
The FCC will vote on the proposed ban on November 22. It also is proposing ways for US carriers to remove and replace existing equipment acquired from Huawei and ZTE.
Barr added that “we should not signal that Huawei and ZTE are anything other than a threat to our collective security, for that is exactly what they, through their actions, have shown themselves to be”.