A smartphone screen displays call records featuring China's three major telecom operators - China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. Photo: VCG

China Unicom's US subsidiary and a major American telecom trade group have filed objections with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against a proposed ban on interconnection between US carriers and Chinese telecom operators, with experts warning that the politically driven move would disrupt global communications and hurt US businesses operating in China.

China Unicom's US subsidiary warned in a filing with the FCC that the regulator's proposed interconnection ban targeting major Chinese telecom firms would cause severe disruptions to global communications networks and undermine US corporate interests with stakes in China, according to Reuters.

China Unicom said in the filing that the proposal would "harm US companies with significant business and supply chain interests in China" and "Chinese-funded telecommunications operators collectively serve as the primary ⁠gateways for communications traffic flowing between the US and China, the world's two largest economies," according to Reuters.

"A blanket prohibition on interconnection with these entities would fundamentally fracture a critical segment of the global communications network," China Unicom said

The warning came in response to an FCC proposal aimed at barring US and foreign telecommunications carriers operating in the US from interconnecting with China Unicom, China Mobile, China Telecom and others, claiming that they pose national security risks, according to the Reuters report.

Opposition to the proposal has also emerged from within the US telecom sector. US Telecom, which represents top US carriers including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, opposed revoking interconnection authority for Chinese telecom carriers in its separate filing, Reuters reported. 

The trade group argued that the proposal "could reduce US provider visibility into risky traffic flows, push communications through foreign or less accountable intermediaries, create uncertainty for ordinary commercial and operational communications, and disrupt technical safeguards that depend on known points of contact and established escalation paths."

US Telecom also ⁠said that the rule could "create pressure to avoid ordinary international routing and exchange relationships necessary for global communications."

Chinese industry experts said that the FCC's move represents blatant telecom trade protectionism. As global telecom operations rely on interconnected cross-border routes, politicizing commercial telecom interconnections will only create losses for both sides and disrupt long-standing global communication governance.

Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the US has continuously expanded telecom restrictions targeting China. The incremental curbs artificially split the integrated global telecom market and run counter to cross-border connectivity trends. The impact will extend beyond Chinese telecom operators to ordinary end-users and multinational companies.

Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Zhongguancun Modern Information Consumer Application Industry Technology Alliance, told the Global Times that if direct bilateral telecom links are cut, cross-border traffic will shift to third-party intermediaries, driving up transmission costs and cybersecurity risks. American companies with extensive supply chains and business operations in China will face operational risks from fragmented communication routes.

The FCC's sustained crackdown on Chinese telecom companies, spanning curbs on data center operations and bilateral interconnection, is politically driven rather than rooted in legitimate cybersecurity concerns. Its real intent is to prop up domestic US telecom firms and contain the growth of China's telecom sector, Xiang said.

The interconnection proposal marks the latest step in the FCC's crackdowns on Chinese telecom companies. On April 30, the FCC adopted measures that would disqualify testing and certification bodies from countries without mutual recognition agreements with the US and prohibit entities on the so-called "Covered List" from providing telecommunications services in the US. The FCC said that it would subsequently solicit public comments on these measures.

In response, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that the FCC had abandoned the principle of technology neutrality, overstretched the concept of national security, and frequently imposed restrictions without a factual basis, discriminating against enterprises and products from China and other countries, which has severely harmed the interests of China and other relevant trading partners. Such measures undermine the hard-won stability of China-US economic and trade relations and run counter to the consensus reached by the two heads of state, to which China pays high attention, and it is firmly opposed to these steps.

The MOFCOM further noted that the FCC will solicit public comments on these restrictive measures. If implemented, these measures will severely disrupt the international economic and trade order, destabilize global industrial and supply chains in the communications, electronics, and related fields, impact global industrial cooperation as well as science and technology innovation, and also harm the interests of US industries and consumers, affecting the supply-chain security of the US itself, the MOFCOM said.