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US may lift ban on Huawei; industry representatives happy
By Li Xuanmin in Osaka and Chen Qingqing in Beijing Source:Global Times Published: 2019/6/29 17:42:15
A member of Huawei's reception staff walks in front of a large screen displaying the logo in the foyer of a building used for high-profile visits. Photo: VCG
The US is likely to lift the ban on China's Huawei Technolo-gies as the trade tension between the two countries eased on Saturday following talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 summit in Japan's Osaka
Chinese analysts praised the Trump administration's willing-ness of allowing American companies to work with Huawei, as cutting off business ties will put the US in a lose-lose situation.
In response to reports that Trump may lift the ban on Huawei after China-US trade talks, a member of the Chinese delega-tion said China welcomes the reported move if the US "does what it says."
"Huawei is a private firm with leading telecommunication technologies. Its investment and participation in local telecom network construction will benefit local telecom industries. Putting restrictions will make each side lose," Wang Xiaolong, special envoy for G20 affairs and director general of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press briefing by the Chinese delegation on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. But Wang, who did not participate in the trade talks, refused to confirm the report.
"The US government is making the right choice if it lifts the ban on Huawei, as American companies have been struggling recently after Washington prohibited them from working with the Chinese firm," Xiang Ligang, a veteran Beijing-based industry analyst, told the Global Times on Saturday.
"It's clearly a positive sign that we are going back to the right track, but we should also remain cautious of the US' flip-flops," he noted.
Major US suppliers have been recently resuming cooperation with Huawei, as the US government's export controls also weigh on their business.
The US government's move disrupting the supply chain also hurt the global tech industry.
"Huawei is the leading global supplier of 5G telecom products, which Japanese telecom operators have also realized. Japanese companies have widely cooperated with the Chinese company in 5G networks. Restricting the use of Huawei devices means a huge loss to them," Tomoo Marukawa, a professor of the Institute of Social Science under the University of Tokyo, told the Global Times on Saturday.
After the US added Huawei to its Entity List, Japanese firms which use US software and parts and have business connections with Huawei are concerned that they may be sanctioned by the US government.
He also noted that Huawei is way ahead of Japanese telecom equipment-makers such as Panasonic, NEC and Fujitsu in competition. As such, according to Marukawa, it may be "a huge hurdle" for Japan to launch 5G networks without Huawei.
Although Huawei has not commented officially on Trump's intention of lifting sales ban on the company, several Huawei employees welcomed the news on their social media ac-counts and said 'let's wait and see.'
Huawei's official twitter account called the US announcement a "U turn" on Saturday.