Following reports of China’s plan to create its own retaliatory blacklist after the U.S. ban on the company, Huawei has reportedly cancelled meetings with Americans and sent U.S. employees home.
According to a Financial Times report, Huawei’s chief strategy architect, Dang Wenshuan, said the company repatriated U.S. citizens working in research and development. This took place two weeks ago when Huawei was placed on the U.S. Commerce Department’s ‘Entity List,’ effectively banning American companies from selling technology to Huawei without government approval.
Additionally, the report said Huawei hastily disbanded a workshop underway at the company and asked American delegates to remove their laptops, isolate their networks and leave the company’s premises.
Finally, the report quoted Dang saying that Huawei is limiting interactions between its employees and American citizens.
As for the creation of China’s own entity list, the country’s Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng said it could include foreign enterprises, organizations and individuals that “don’t obey market rules, violet contracts and block [or] cut off supply for non-commercial reasons,” among other things.
Gao also claimed the list was to protect trade and “safeguard China’s security, social and public interests.”
However, China may not have many options when it comes to this list. There aren’t companies it can blacklist without hurting itself in the process.
Source: Financial Times Via: CBC News
