The United States Senate voted overwhelmingly to support legislation prohibiting businesses such as Huawei Technologies Co or ZTE Corp from acquiring new equipment licenses from US regulators.
As part of the latest crackdown on Chinese telecom and tech companies, the Secure Equipment Act was approved last week by the House on a 420-4 vote, and will now be submitted to U.S. President Joe Biden for his approval.
"Chinese government-run enterprises like Huawei and ZTE are well-known national security risks and have no place in our telecommunications network," U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio stated.
The legislation would bar the Federal Communications Commission from assessing or releasing new equipment licenses to businesses listed on the FCC's "Covered Equipment or Services List."
The FCC identified five Chinese firms as a threat to national security in March, pursuant to a 2019 statute aimed at defending the United States' communications networks.
Huawei and ZTE were among the companies affected, as were Hytera Communications Corp, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, and Zhejiang Dahua Technology.
The FCC voted unanimously in June to forward a plan to prohibit approvals for equipment used in U.S. telecommunications networks from those Chinese corporations, despite legislative efforts to demand it.
Beijing expressed objection to the FCC vote in June.
"Despite the lack of evidence, the United States continues to abuse national security and state authority to suffocate Chinese businesses, " Zhao Lijian, a representative for China's foreign ministry, stated.
The FCC could potentially cancel past equipment authorizations granted to Chinese corporations under proposed guidelines that received first approval in June.
Huawei's representative declined to comment Thursday, but in June called the proposed FCC change "misguided and needlessly punishing."
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the agency has granted more than 3,000 Huawei applications since 2018.
Carr also said that the bill will help ensure that unsecured equipment from Huawei and ZTE is no longer allowed to be integrated into the U.S.' communications infrastructure.
The FCC voted Tuesday to remove China Telecom's US subsidiary's authorization to operate in the United States, citing national security concerns.
