Speaking at the Bureau of Industry and Security Annual Conference on Export Controls and Security, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross said the following with regard to Huawei:
“We are alert to China’s civil−military fusion strategy, and understand China’s tenacious pursuit of American technologies it needs to modernize its military. This cannot be tolerated, and we are updating our export control policies to account for this very real threat. BIS’s Entity List denies sensitive technologies to companies endangering our national security and foreign policy interests.
Since 2017, we have added 182 companies to the Entity List, including 49 Chinese companies, 49 Russian ones, and 20 Pakistanis. On May 16 of this year, BIS added Huawei Technologies — the largest telecommunications equipment producer in the world — and 68 affiliates, to Commerce’s Entity List. Four days later, on May 20th, BIS issued a 90-day General License allowing customers time to arrange new suppliers, and for Commerce to determine the appropriate long-term measures for American and foreign telecom providers currently relying on Huawei for critical services.
To implement the President’s G-20 Summit directive two weeks ago, Commerce will issue licenses where there is no threat to U.S. national security. Within those confines we will try to make sure that we don’t just transfer revenue from the U.S. to foreign firms. Huawei itself remains on the Entity List, and the announcement does not change the scope of items requiring licenses from the Commerce Department, nor the presumption of denial.
ZTE is another example of BIS’s strong enforcement activities. Because of the Department’s action, ZTE is the most monitored corporation in BIS history.”
The full text of his remarks are posted here.
