The U.S. House of Representatives is ready to cast vote on the bill that will cease the operations of the Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei due to potential security threats.
The House reported on Tuesday that it was set to take up a bipartisan bill. It is supposed to be named as the Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act CUTAA.
The act will make it mandatory for the State Departments to provide reports on the U.S. NATO allies and also others who were the users of the telecommunication services or equipment in its 5G networks from companies similar to ZTE and Huawei.
Additionally, the act will impose several regulations and restrictions on the users of telecommunications products. It will mandate that the publicly traded companies to disclose whether it had any kind of communication with ZTE or Huawei or any of the services listed in the bill.
The bill will require the agencies, departments, and organizations that have used this equipment to submit a report on the usage in the U.S. embassies abroad.
It will also have to submit another report directly to the U.S. State Department. This is to identify the significant telecommunications infrastructure projects to promote the national level of security.
Susan Wild, the Democratic representative and supporter of the move said that the government needs to redouble its efforts to protect its national security and interest.
She continued that the nation has to help its allies to take vital measures for the security of the nation itself. She added that the federal leadership has to stand firmly in defense of fundamental rights.
Chinese telecommunications companies such as ZTE and Huawei have been suspected of collecting data from U.S. users and providing it to the government of China.
Previously in March U.S. banned the sale of communications equipment from ZTE and Huawei. In addition to that some of the surveillance systems manufactured in China were also restricted from being used. The government said that the cation was due to national security challenges.
The Federal Communications Commission stated that the decision was made by a unanimous vote. The same vote adopted new rules to block the import and sale of particular tech products.
According to a related report, it was known that these particular tech products most of them made by Chinese companies had posed threats to the security of the critical infrastructure of the nation.
The decision to ban these products from the nation was first implemented under the presidency of Donald Trump. Joe Biden when he took power as the first man of the United States of America continued to follow the same measure.
Before that in November 2022, the commission directed that new telecommunications equipment from ZTE and Huawei should be disapproved. It was because the commission viewed that the companies pose an unacceptable risk.
In 2019, the U.S. Congress gave an order to the FCC to direct all of the American telecom carriers that receive federal subsidies to filter their networks of all the services that pose any security threat to the nation. Congress had promised a reimbursement after the completion of the program.
The FCC listed ZTE and Huawei under the national security threat label and instructed the U.S. companies to remove them, in case they were using any. If the companies fail to do so they were deemed to face legal action and also get not included in an 8.3 billion US dollars government fund to buy new equipment.
This measure was most commonly referred to as the rip-and-replace effort. Despite the promised amount of funds, Congress had only passed 1.9 billion towards it, so far.
Must Check:- What Is Tongyi Qianwen? Alibaba’s New AI Model Similar To GPT
In relation to this, in 2022 the FCC had said that the companies were in need of another 3 billion US dollars to completely remove the ZTE and Huawei equipment and services from the U.S networks. The commission also reported that there was a need for an estimated amount of 4.98 million US dollars.
Earlier in 2018 the U.S. government banned ZTE and Huawei equipment from being used by the federal government. The reason cited was security concerns and it was established by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA 2019).
Huawei has been reported as one of the primary suppliers of the Great Firewall of China internet censorship program. ZTE and Huawei did not respond when asked for a comment.
The Chinese embassy located in Washington said the previous year that the Federal Communications Commission had abused its state power. And that the action was done to maliciously attack Chinese telecom operators.
The embassy said that it was not the first time FCC had done this and that it was not based on any facts. Huawei had turned down all the previous allegations and one time its spokesperson said that the US was intentionally targeting the company and that it was unlawful and irrational.
Read More:- Elizabeth Holmes’ 11-Year Prison Term Will Start At The End Of The Month
