When the legislation was passed by Congress, it blocked Chinese-made telecommunications equipment from being used in federal networks. This basically meant that government contractors could not use equipment from Huawei. We should add that Huawei and ZTE, along with some other Chinese companies were specifically named. According to Huawei, the measure that was imposed breached a legal standard against making a “bill of attainder,” as the policy that was made was directed at a small group. Furthermore, the government is also accused of infringing the company’s due process rights.
The lawsuit was announced by the company’s executives at a press conference in Shenzen. According to Huawei’s Guo Ping, after failing to pacify the concerns of US lawmakers, “we are left with no choice but to challenge the law in court.” Huawei also called the ban on the company completely unnecessary and added that because of this, the United States would be left behind in the buildout of next-generation 5G connectivity. However, we must add here that US officials have repeatedly considered Huawei to be a potential security threat. They also said that the company may a tool that is being used by the Chinese government to spy on users in other countries. However, Huawei has maintained that this is not the case and said that the US has not been able to provide evidence for its statement or concerns yet. The measures that were taken by the government are clearly the strongest actions that have been taken against Huawei in the United States. We should also mention that as Huawei remains embroiled in the battle regarding policy measures, the US is looking for the extradition of the company’s financial officer from Canada.
