China imposes export controls as ECTA denounces Huawei ban

The inevitable Chinese retaliation against US sanctions is taking form. Meanwhile a European telecoms lobby group has objected to politically motivated bans.

The Chinese Communist Party indicated it was preparing reciprocal action, to counter America’s mounting sanctions against Huawei, when it announced the creation of its own ‘unreliable entity list’ a month ago. Now the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, reports China’s top legislature has already passed a law on export control. Isn’t it amazing how much less time it takes to make new laws when there’s nobody to oppose them?

“China may take countermeasures against any country or region that abuses export-control measures and poses a threat to China’s national security and interests, according to the law,” reports Xinhua. “Export control is a common international practice in which a country prohibits or restricts the export of specific items, such as nuclear materials, in order to fulfil its international obligations, such as non-proliferation, while safeguarding its own national security and development interests.”

If it’s such a standard, common practice, how come China is only just getting around to it? This is just the standard rhetorical veneer such things are coated in, to make them look more innocuous than they are. At this stage you have to wonder why China is bothering with such games, but maybe it’s just force of habit. Regardless, this law is clearly designed to give the Chinese state the power to impose sanctions on companies it deems to pose a threat to its interests – i.e. US ones.

By using such vague, subjective criteria to act against Huawei, the US has legitimised such behaviour for the rest of the world. The extent to which China uses this new law will probably depend on the outcome of the imminent US election. As we’re seeing with the abortive Brexit negotiations, trade is a popular political pawn these days and China is signalling its willingness to escalate in that direction.

Also prominent on the Xinhua English-language site is a story headlined ‘Europe telecoms group denounces bans on Chinese equipment vendors’. It refers to a recent press release published by ECTA (the European Competitive Telecommunications Association), which made the following statement.

“ECTA denounces any bans of Chinese 5G suppliers for geopolitical reasons and emphasises that such decisions can only be justified on the basis of well-established facts. The 5G Toolbox provides a suitable EU framework for responding to security issues affecting the networks of the future while respecting European and national sovereignty.”

The release then goes on about how harmful to competition removing two of the five ‘worldwide suppliers’ is, which is undeniable. It should be noted, however, that only one of those five suppliers is a full ECTA member and that is Huawei.

The 5G Toolbox was unveiled a month ago, so it’s not obvious why ECTA picked this moment to make such an announcement. Our best guess is that the steady stream of European Union countries deciding to increase their own restrictions on Huawei, in apparent response to US pressure, has alarmed ECTA’s membership, but they seem to be swimming against the current on this one.