Late last week, the US Commerce Department issued a subpoena to Chinese mobile giant Huawei, insisting that the company turn over all records pertaining to its use of US technologies in Huawei products shipped to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. All of those countries either currently are or recently have been subject to US sanctions. One of the conditions of foreign companies like Huawei licensing American technology is that products using more than a certain percentage of US technology and US-made components cannot be exported to US-sanctioned countries.
Huawei has not been formally accused of wrongdoing, and this is not a criminal investigation. If the Commerce Department finds that Huawei did violate the export rules, it could limit Huawei’s access to US technology and US-made components, which would affect Huawei’s business globally.
This might seem like a relatively minor deal – Huawei has not yet been accused of any wrongdoing or punished in any way. But in China, the reaction has been dramatic and angry. The story has attracted thousands of comments across major news outlets and most of them are… well, see for yourself.
Photo credit: Pixabay.
Top comments
The following is a selection of popular (widely liked or upvoted) comments from Sina Tech, Global Times, and Tencent Tech stories about the subpoena:
Sina Tech commenter from Shanghai:
“America already has no shame left. This is the last crazy act of a weakening power.”
Tencent Tech commenter:
“When Western countries investigate China’s tech companies, it’s motivated by envy and fear.”
Global Times commenter from Jiangxi:
“China should investigate rare earths buyers in the US and Japan, and force them to promise not to use [Chinese rare earths] for military applications.”
Sina Tech commenter from Hangzhou:
A retort
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