Voice of America
16 Jul 2020, 07:58 GMT+10
WASHINGTON, DC - The United States is imposing visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese technology companies, including Huawei, for providing "material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally."
Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said telecommunications companies around the world should also "consider themselves on notice" that if they do business with Huawei, "they are doing business with human rights abusers."
The announcement is seen as the latest move to punish Chinese Communist Party's alleged human rights abuses against China's minority Muslim population.
"Companies impacted by today's action include Huawei, an arm of the CCP's surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China. Certain Huawei employees provide material support to the CCP regime that commits human rights abuses," said Pompeo in a separate statement.
The State Department did not provide specific names of employees of Chinese technology companies affected by the visa restrictions.
The U.S. move also came a day after the British government announced it would ban Huawei from playing a role in the development of Britain's next generation 5G network. Washington says Huawei could provide the Chinese Communist Party a "back door" for spying, a claim that Huawei rejects.
The relationship between the world's two leading economies is seen as at its lowest point in decades.
In Beijing, China threatened Tuesday to impose sanctions on a U.S. aerospace company Lockheed Martin Corp., in response to Washington's approval of a potential deal for Taiwan to buy parts to revamp defensive missiles built by the company.
China has urged the U.S. to stop arms sale to Taiwan to "avoid further harming Sino-U.S. ties and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait." China claims democratically self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.
"To safeguard the country's interests, China has decided to take necessary steps, and put sanctions on the main contractor for this sale, Lockheed Martin," said Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.
In a response to a question from VOA, Pompeo said Wednesday American companies should not be punished when the U.S. government is implementing the Taiwan Relations Act.
"I regret that the Chinese Communist Party chose to make that threat against Lockheed Martin. It is not the first time they've chosen to do that to an American contractor who was working on a program that was between the United States and Taiwan. So, I regret that-- I hope they'll reconsider that and not follow through," said Pompeo during a State Department press briefing.
Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Since then, relations between the U.S. and Taiwan have been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act that was passed by Congress in April of 1979. The U.S. is bound by its law to supply Taiwan with defense equipment.
"Foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions," said Lockheed Martin, adding it works closely with the U.S. government on any military sales to international customers. "Discussions about sales to foreign governments are best addressed by the U.S. government."
Get a daily dose of Michigan Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Michigan Sun.
More InformationBANGALORE, India - Following an earlier report of 36 units of the Nissan Magnite being delivered on a single day ...
NEW YORK, New York - Wall Street ended the week on a negative note Friday with all the major indices ...
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday (local time) announced a USD 1.9 trillion plan to revive the ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks were mixed on Friday despite U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announcing a $1.9 trillion stimulus package ...
BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- China continued to see a generally stable housing market in December, with home prices in ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday following data showing a larger-than-expected increase in weekly unemployment claims, ...
A Chinese government survey ship was intercepted "running dark" without broadcasting its position via AIS (Automated Identification System) by Indonesian ...
WASHINGTON, DC The man who struck down three U.S. Capitol Police officers with a fire extinguisher during last week's storming ...
WASHINGTON, DC - A Utah man has been charged with breaking into the U.S. Capitol last week wearing a bullet-proof ...
Provided by Xinhua | &A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has killed 35 people in Indonesia, injuring 637 and displacing around 15,000 people.JAKARTA, ...
Five United Nations peacekeepers lost their lives on Wednesday, 4 in Mali and one in the Central African Republic. 4 ...
BEIJING, China - A team of 10 World Health Organisation (WHO) experts arrived in Wuhan on Thursday to investigate the ...