Competition fears no justification for US dictating terms of business

The US Department of Commerce added another 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to its blacklist on Tuesday, citing national security concerns.

In a statement announcing the additions to the United States' so-called Entity List, the Commerce Department said that Huawei was using international subsidiaries to circumvent the sanctions aimed at preventing it from acquiring exports of US-based technology.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross claimed that by working through third parties to harness US technology, Huawei was undermining US national security and foreign policy interests.

The move, which is aimed at preventing Huawei from obtaining semiconductors developed or produced by foreign companies using US software or technology, further turns the screws on the Chinese telecommunications leader.

Although Ross said this multi-pronged action shows the US' "continuing commitment to impede" Huawei, it instead reveals that the US administration is intent on terminating the company with extreme prejudice.

As industry insiders have said, if the rule, an extension to the one in May that banned US companies from selling chips to the Chinese telecom company, is carried out to the letter, Huawei's access to chips from non-US sources, such as the Republic of Korea and European countries, might be completely blocked, as few chip makers are completely independent of US know-how－a fact that both Ross and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have made no bones of crowing about.

But given that Huawei is one of the world's largest telecom hardware manufacturers, eliminating its huge demand will obviously have repercussions for the whole telecom industry supply chain, as the rule covers almost all the major chip producers around the world. And given Huawei's leading role in the global 5G telecom equipment market and its large market share, the rule will definitely hinder the worldwide rollout of 5G.

To force chip makers from the rest of the world to apply for export licenses from the US administration just because they use US technology and know-how is an abuse of contract as the companies have already paid for the right to use them in their products.

The US has no authority or legitimacy to subject foreign companies to such long-arm jurisdiction. Thanks to the paranoia of Washington, Huawei is now excluded from the US markets and is being pushed out from the markets of its allies, too. How can national security continue to be an excuse for the US to continue its kill-campaign against the company?

That being said, the rest of the world should collectively oppose the new rule issued by the US government not for the sake of Huawei, but to defend the norms of international trade and economic relations and thus their own rights and interests.