US blacklists Chinese giant Huawei, affiliated companies

The US Commerce Department has announced it is blacklisting Chinese telecom giant Huawei and 70 affiliates over alleged threat to national security.

The department said it has a reason to conclude that Huawei is "engaged in activities that are contrary to US national security or foreign policy interest." It accused Huawei of providing banned financial services to Iran bypassing US sanctions and also attempts to obstruct justice during the investigation into these violations.

This move will "prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine US national security or foreign policy interests," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring emergency to protect US information and telecommunications technology from external threats. The order will empower the US commerce secretary after consultations with heads of other federal agencies to block transactions deemed as a threat to national security.

In August 2018, Trump signed an order banning US government agencies from using the equipment manufactured by Huawei and another Chinese company ZTE.

Huawei has said the US "unreasonable restrictions" will infringe upon its rights. "Restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives," the telecom giant said in a statement, according to AFP.