China Telecom (Americans) Corp and China Mobile International USA were added to the US government's list of communications equipment and service providers that pose a threat to national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting the country's communications networks.
According to FCC's press release, the US Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau also added Russia's AO Kaspersky Lab to its list of communications equipment and service providers deemed a threat to national security.
The US has added a Russian entity to a list dominated by Chinese telecommunications firms for the first time.
The US regulator added five Chinese firms to its list last March: Huawei Technologies Co, ZTE Corp, Hytera Communications Corp, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co, and Dahua Technology Co.
The FCC added that it “will continue to update the list as additional communications equipment and services meet the statutory criteria.”
“Being on the list has a limited impact on Chinese businesses due to their small size,” Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Information Consumption Alliance, an industry association, was quoted as saying by Global Times.
According to Global Times, the FCC revoked Pacific Networks Corp and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet (USA) LLC's authority to provide relevant telecom services in the United States on March 16.
Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology urged the United States on Thursday to reverse its decision against the two Chinese telecom firms.
Three Chinese telecom companies, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last year, in accordance with the 2020 US investment restriction.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden stated on Thursday (local time) that he has made it abundantly clear to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping the potentially dire economic consequences of China assisting Russia.
Concerning the possibility of China assisting Russia, Biden stated that he had a “very candid conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.
“China, I believe, recognises that its economic future is much more inextricably linked to the West than it is to Russia. As a result, I'm hoping he doesn't get engaged “As Biden stated.
He made these remarks about Russia's invasion of Ukraine during a March 24 news conference following a NATO summit and Group of Seven meeting at NATO's headquarters in Brussels.
Earlier this month, on March 18, the US President held a video call with Jinping in which he warned China of the consequences and ramifications of providing material support to Russia.
