WASHINGTON: The United States (US) Department of Commerce on Monday issued a 90-day temporary license loosening restrictions on business deals with Chinese tech giant Huawei, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a statement by the department.
The Temporary General License, effective from May 20 through Aug 19, allows “specific, limited engagement in transactions involving the export, reexport, and transfer of items” to Huawei, the department said in the statement.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the department put Huawei and its affiliates on an “Entity List” on May 16, which would restrict the sale or transfer of US technologies to Huawei.
The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long-term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was quoted as saying in the statement.
The license, due to be published Wednesday and available online now, also allows engagement with Huawei and its affiliates for the development of 5G standards as part of a duly recognised international standards body.
The department will evaluate whether to extend the license beyond 90 days, according to the statement.
German media reported recently that years of scrutiny by Britain, Germany and the European Union (EU) has found no obvious “backdoors” in Huawei products, while security loopholes are often spotted in products made by Cisco of the United States.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, “the conclusions of Europe’s scrutiny have proven Huawei innocent, and showed the US suppression against other countries’ enterprises with state power is unjustified”. – Bernama
