In the high-stakes world of global tech, few stories are as riveting as the ongoing tussle between Chinese electronics giant Huawei and the U.S. government. Under intense scrutiny and facing heavy sanctions, it was hoped and assumed that these whirls of intense scrutiny and heavy sanctions would swirl Huawei into a state of oblivion. One of the restrictions against Huawei is this law right here from 2019.
This is the law that required US Defense Department to cut Huawei equipment out of its communications networks around the world. But do you know what the Defense Department did ? It went and got waver from this 2019 law. Do you know the reason stated by Pentagon for acquiring this waver ? The reason would baffle you.
Accoring to Pentagon, it would be impossible to perform missions around the world while under the restrictions established under this law, for the simple fact that Huawei is deeply entrenched in every technology that countries around the world use and employ. Meaning, for countries to source a similar technology from the US would either be very expensive or would just not be available. But for the past 5 years US Defense has successfully employed the waver previlige to use technologies from Huawei.
The issue is quite simple to understand, if the US defense department followed the 2019 regulations jot by jot, then they wouldn't be able to buy drugs or medical supplies or uniforms, or move troops and materials around. For the simple reason that there are parts of the world where you literally cannot get away from Huawei.
Maybe the 2019 law had good intentions, but it wasn't well thought through. The US lawmakers didn't really know what they were doing. In other words they had no clue of the existing ground reality. This sporadic act on the part of the US law makers has not just got the Pentagon complaining but most of US allies too. However on their part, all that they are saying is this, that they want to comply, but there are no affordable substitutes to Huawei and ZTE products.
In turn, US troops in those countries need Huawei communication systems to do their jobs in Africa, Europe, even the UK. Other US government agencies are also required to move away from Huawei, not just the Pentagon. The FCC is a Federal Communications Commission and they are the regulators of communication systems and services inside the United States. Their rules also state that Chinese suppliers must be replaced by other suppliers. But the truth of this matter is that a mere 12% of the companies have successfully found other companies to supply them.
The ground reality is that many of the companies are citing examples from the Pentagon and are filing for wavers. Though the "rip and replace is an FCC policy", which means, rip out the Chinese made gear from communication systems and replace it with equipment made elsewhere. The FCC also provides funding taxpayer money for US companies to buy more expensive equipment to replace the lower cost China made gear. But the irony is, there isn't enough money to acquire these alternatives.
40% of companies outrightly have declined to be part of the "rip and replace" agenda as they say that it is just not possible to replace Chinese equipment unless they're given five times more money to acquire these alternatives. More so, most of these US companies don't believe that Congress is going to give them any more money to actually comply with these regulations.
What is obvious is the fact that none of these restrictions have actually hurt Huawei at all. Lead business economist says that Huawei is stronger than ever and less vulnerable than before. The Wall Street Journal notes that every single operating unit of Huawei is reporting higher sales. A leading economic research predicts a 500% increase in profit for Huawei this year alone. With the US government passing law after law, and regulations after regulations which they themselves do not follow, the all important question that one would like to ask is this, is the US trying to reinvent the Murphy's law ? For all of these big people, the Pentagon, US federal agencies, the huge contractors that do businesses and their multibillion dollar telecommunications companies, can simply call their friends in Washington and get a waiver for another year. But if truth be told, it is the common Americans who suffer the most. All because of US stand against the tech giant, Huawei.
For it is the commonner who toils hard to put the bread and butter on the table, who are worse affected because of 2019 law. For they are not allowed to buy affordable Chinese Techs to light up their homes, to communicate with their friends, or even drive for a saturday afternoon cookout. Too bad for them and nobody wants to help them. For they do not have anybody to represent them before the Congress and ask the Congress to give them 10s of millions of dollars so they can purchase the alternatives. Too bad for them, they ought to suffer, while Pentagon and companies like them always get the waver to use Huawei and Huawei alone. What a pity in the city ?