US authorities continue their hunt for Chinese operators. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just withdrawn China Unicom’s right to operate in the United States for national security reasons. The American telecoms policeman spoke out on Thursday to revoke the license of the American subsidiary of China Unicom. The American agency justifies itself by explaining that the presence of the operator in the United States would present a national security risk for Washington, by allowing Beijing to access American communications, to store them, to disturb them, to divert them and engage in espionage.
“In March 2021, the Commission determined that China Unicom Americas had failed to resolve serious concerns regarding its continued authority to provide telecommunications services in the United States,” the FCC said in a statement. ” [China Unicom] is subject to the exploitation, influence and control of the Chinese government and it is highly likely that it will be forced to comply with the demands of the Chinese government without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial review. ‘Authority.
State-owned China Unicom has also been accused of misleading the FCC and the US Congress about its activities in the United States. This, according to the agency, undermines the operator’s ability to be trustworthy, given the critical nature of its status as a telecommunications service provider.
Palpable tensions between Washington and Beijing
With this ban, China Unicom joins China Telecom as a Chinese state telecommunications company that has been banned from operating in the United States. This ban also means that China Mobile is the last of the major Chinese telecommunications companies to still be allowed to operate in the United States.
Prior to the FCC’s decision, China Unicom was already in the Biden administration’s sights after it was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange alongside China Telecom and China Mobile in early 2021. last year, Donald Trump’s successor also signed an executive order prohibiting Americans from investing in these three telecommunications companies. China Unicom now has 60 days to pack up and stop providing domestic and international services.
The American position says a lot about the tension currently reigning between the American and Chinese authorities. Last illustration of this frontal opposition: the American authorities recently urged their citizens to leave all their personal devices and laptops at home in case of departure for the next Winter Olympics in Beijing, fearing that the latter could be hacked or monitored. by the Chinese government during the Games and after returning home.
Source: ZDNet.com