The Justice Department is investigating Chinese telecom group ZTE for bribery, NBC News reported on Friday.
The report, citing “two people briefed on the matter,” found that the investigation is based on ZTE allegedly paying bribes to foreign officials to gain advantage in the world telecom market.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, which according to NBC News is the branch of the Justice Department investigating ZTE, declined to comment on the story to The Hill.
The new investigation comes three years after ZTE pleaded guilty to illegally shipping equipment from the U.S. to Iran, agreeing to pay a penalty of $1.19 billion in settling with the Commerce and Treasury Departments for violating export controls.
While a spokesperson for ZTE did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment, the company told NBC News that "ZTE is fully committed to meeting its legal and compliance obligations.”
The spokesperson added that “the top priority of the company's leadership team is making ZTE a trusted and reliable business partner in the global marketplace, and the company is proud of the enormous progress it has made. Beyond this, it would not be appropriate for ZTE to comment."
ZTE, along with separate Chinese telecom company Huawei, has come under close scrutiny over the past few years as concerns around Chinese tech groups doing business in the U.S. have increased.
Concerns have stemmed from a 2017 Chinese intelligence law that requires Chinese companies and citizens to participate in state intelligence work and share data and information if requested.
As a result, the Trump administration has made keeping both Huawei and ZTE out of U.S. networks a priority. President Trump signed into law a bill this week banning the use of federal funds to purchase equipment from groups deemed threats to national security, and creating a $1 billion fund to help smaller companies rip out and replace existing vulnerable equipment.
Equipment from ZTE and Huawei are used in rural areas. The Rural Wireless Association estimated around 25 percent of their member companies were using equipment from at least one of these companies in 2018.
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously in November to classify both companies as national security threats, and to ban U.S. telecom companies from using FCC funds to buy equipment from either Huawei or ZTE.
The Justice Department is investigating Chinese telecom group ZTE for bribery, NBC News reported on Friday.
The report, citing “two people briefed on the matter,” found that the investigation is based on ZTE allegedly paying bribes to foreign officials to gain advantage in the world telecom market.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, which according to NBC News is the branch of the Justice Department investigating ZTE, declined to comment on the story to The Hill.
The new investigation comes three years after ZTE pleaded guilty to illegally shipping equipment from the U.S. to Iran, agreeing to pay a penalty of $1.19 billion in settling with the Commerce and Treasury Departments for violating export controls.
While a spokesperson for ZTE did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment, the company told NBC News that "ZTE is fully committed to meeting its legal and compliance obligations.”
The spokesperson added that “the top priority of the company's leadership team is making ZTE a trusted and reliable business partner in the global marketplace, and the company is proud of the enormous progress it has made. Beyond this, it would not be appropriate for ZTE to comment."
ZTE, along with separate Chinese telecom company Huawei, has come under close scrutiny over the past few years as concerns around Chinese tech groups doing business in the U.S. have increased.
Concerns have stemmed from a 2017 Chinese intelligence law that requires Chinese companies and citizens to participate in state intelligence work and share data and information if requested.
As a result, the Trump administration has made keeping both Huawei and ZTE out of U.S. networks a priority. President Trump signed into law a bill this week banning the use of federal funds to purchase equipment from groups deemed threats to national security, and creating a $1 billion fund to help smaller companies rip out and replace existing vulnerable equipment.
Equipment from ZTE and Huawei are used in rural areas. The Rural Wireless Association estimated around 25 percent of their member companies were using equipment from at least one of these companies in 2018.
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously in November to classify both companies as national security threats, and to ban U.S. telecom companies from using FCC funds to buy equipment from either Huawei or ZTE.
？
加油！
白宫说：don’t use Chinese products, not safe!
不要使用中国产品，不安全Warning sign
其实谁都明白是因为国家监控的问题。
加油～
华为估计弄不了了，体量太大且便宜，也没有人发现所谓间谍后门，就是个机器而已。而且美国也没发现可破解入侵的后门，所以很头疼。
十亿根本不够。美国货贵太多了。除非美国政府出资给这些中小企业购买美国公司的产品，不然很多小企业得关门。
给10亿就说明美国用的中兴华为的设备就没多少，美国现在的信息基础设施建设在这两个公司有起色前就建差不多了，因为合作和运行更新维护上的惯性，即使两家崛起后美国的相关设备采购基本上还是要跟原来的供应商合作，这是基本的商业规律。除非有新起来的通信服务公司不用考虑这些因素，但是美国好像没有这方面具有一定规模的新的相关公司吧？
走自己的路，让别人无路可走，战狼公司