US may place compliance officers in ZTE’s offices, Wilbur Ross says after bill punishing the company passes the House
The bill bans US government agencies from using technology made by ZTE and would prohibit the Department of Defence from renewing contracts with vendors that work with ZTE
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the White House was considering options other than placing crippling penalties on Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE Corp. on Thursday, hours after the House of Representatives passed a bill to punish the company in the new annual defence policy bill.
The US is considering a plan to require compliance officers to be installed at ZTE, Ross told CNBC. “If we do decide to go forward with an alternative, what it literally would involve would be implanting people of our choosing into the company to constitute a compliance unit,” he said.
These officers would “report back to the Department of Commerce", he said. "The whole key is enforcement."
Earlier on Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill banning US government agencies from using technology made by ZTE and would prohibit the Department of Defence from renewing contracts with vendors that work with ZTE.
The bill, “The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019”, passed on a 351-66 vote.
It states that national security concerns have accompanied the dramatic growth of China’s telecom sector, “particularly those ‘national champions’ prominent in China’s ‘going out’ strategy of overseas expansion”.