Huawei, ZTE corp threaten our national security, says US attorney general

International News
Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp "cannot be trusted," US Attorney General William Barr said, labelling the Chinese firms a security threat as he backed a proposal to bar US rural wireless carriers from tapping an $8.5 billion (£6.64 billion) government fund to purchase equipment or services from them.
The Federal Communications Commission will vote on Nov. 22 and is proposing requiring the carriers to remove and replace equipment from the companies. Barr said in a letter to the FCC released on Thursday that "their own track record, as well as the practices of the Chinese government, demonstrate that Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted."He added that "we should not signal that Huawei and ZTE are anything other than a threat to our collective security, for that is exactly what they, through their actions, have shown themselves to be."
Huawei and ZTE did not immediately comment.
Barr noted that federal prosecutors charged Huawei with violations of the US embargo on Iran, bank fraud, obstruction of justice and trade secret theft. ZTE pleaded guilty in 2017 to illegally sending approximately $32 million in US goods to Iran.FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission "cannot ignore the risk that the Chinese government will seek to exploit network vulnerabilities in order to engage in espionage, insert malware and viruses, and otherwise compromise our critical communications networks."
The move is the latest US action aimed at barring US companies from purchasing Huawei and ZTE equipment. Huawei said last week that "in 30 years of business, Huawei has never had a major security-related incident in the 170 countries where we operate."

The US government added Huawei to its economic blacklist in May, saying the Chinese company was involved in activities contrary to US national security....READ MORE

Huawei prepares for 60% fall in international smartphone shipments: Report

Company News

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is preparing for a 40 to 60 per cent decline in international smartphone shipments, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.The Chinese technology company is looking at options that include pulling the latest model of its marquee overseas smartphone, the Honor 20, according to the article, which cited people familiar with the matter.
Marketing and sales managers at the tech giant are internally expecting a drop in volumes of anywhere between 40 million to 60 million smartphones this year, the report said.The device will begin selling in parts of Europe, including Britain and France, on June 21, the report said. Executives will be monitoring the launch and may cut off shipments if the sales are poor, it said.In order to offset overseas decline, Huawei is aiming to grab up to half of China's smartphone market in 2019, Bloomberg said. The company did not respond to a Reuters request seeking comment.
The US government put Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment company, on a trade blacklist in May that bars US suppliers from doing business with it because of what Washington says are national security concerns.
At the time, Huawei founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei said the restrictions "may slow, but only slightly" the company's growth.A similar US ban on China's ZTE Corp, almost crippled business for Huawei's smaller rival early last year before the curb was lifted.

 The company's woes are feeding into trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.President Donald Trump has said US complaints against Huawei could be resolved within the framework of any trade deal.The ban has been eased slightly to allow a temporary general license that lets Huawei purchase US goods.However, Broadcom sent a shockwave through the global chipmaking industry last week when it forecast that the US-China trade tensions and the Huawei ban would knock $2 billion off this year sales.