For the second time in the past 5 years ZTE is going to be saved by US Presidents who established sanctions against the company for sanctions violations in Iran and North Korea. The first was President Obama who left sanctions against ZTE for about a week, and now President Trump does the same thing over a month, adding “Too many Chinese jobs lost.” There is something wrong with this decision.
Nobody doubts that ZTE was behind sanctions violations, weeks after China voted for them in the UN. They used shell companies and front companies to get around export controls of other countries but especially the US. They even told their employees how to do it in detailed instructions. The hypocrisy of China could not be lost on a grade school scholar.
But the other aspect is the belief in government circles that ZTE is a “threat to national security” and that led to looking closer to its enforcement of the agreement with the US over punishing ZTE officials who violated the Iran deal. How that stacks up against the loss of Chinese jobs is a mystery that does not make sense. Since when does China’s loss of jobs overcome a national security threat to the US?
No comments:
Post a Comment