US eyes ban on Chinese surveillance cams

WASHINGTON • United States regulators are poised to ban products from Huawei Technologies and four other Chinese electronics companies, including surveillance cameras widely used by American schools but linked to oppression in western China, stepping up pressure on technology suppliers alleged to be security risks.

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology, whose cameras can be found in US schools and local government facilities, are targeted in a proposed order that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was set to vote on yesterday. Also named in the order are telecom giant ZTE and two-way radio maker Hytera Communications.

The order would forbid US sales of specified telecommunications and surveillance equipment from the companies. The action begins a period of review before a final vote on the matter.

In the proposal, the FCC said it also may revoke its previous authorisation for equipment from the companies, a step that could force schools and other US customers to replace the camera systems.

The FCC action represents another step after "years of Huawei warnings", said Mr Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute whose focus includes US economic relations with Asia.

"Any recent purchasers of Chinese telecom equipment who have been expecting years of use and now must exchange equipment should have known better."

In its draft order, the FCC did not say how quickly affected gear would need to be removed, and it asked for comments on the "appropriate and reasonable transition period".

"This could include a transition period for non-conforming equipment," according to the order.

The FCC, Congress and the White House have pushed to ensure Huawei and ZTE gear is not used in US networks, citing risks of cyber espionage that the companies deny. In 2018, Congress voted to stop federal agencies from buying gear from the five companies now subject to FCC pressure. Last year, the agency put the companies on a list of providers whose products are deemed a national security threat.

Huawei, which markets phones in the US, said in a statement that the proposed FCC steps were "misguided and unnecessarily punitive". Hikvision in an e-mail said its designation as a threat is not substantiated, and it "strongly opposes" the FCC measure.

Dahua said it "does not and never has represented any type of threat to US national security". It called the FCC's proceeding "unwarranted". Hytera did not reply to e-mailed requests for comment.

President Joe Biden has continued to pressure China following tense relations with that country under his predecessor Donald Trump. Congress may weigh in, too.

The FCC would be prohibited from reviewing or issuing new equipment licences to companies on the agency's list of suspect equipment or services under a Bill announced on Tuesday by Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, and Representative Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican.

The proposed legislation "adds an extra layer of security that slams the door on Chinese actors from having a presence in the US telecommunications network", the lawmakers said in a news release.

Hikvision and Dahua have been accused by US officials of involvement in China's crackdown in far-western Xinjiang against Uighur Muslims but China has repeatedly denied such accusations.

Still, the two companies remain leading suppliers of surveillance gear in the US, and together account for about one-fifth of US surveillance camera sales, placing each among the top 10 providers, said Mr Jake Parker, senior director of government relations at the Security Industry Association, a trade group.

Mr Parker called it "unprecedented" for the FCC to deny authorisations on grounds not related to technical details, or faults in applications.

BLOOMBERG