Washington’s recent ban on Chinese labs deemed security risks over their testing of consumer electronics bound for the US has observers wondering about law enforcement while saying the ban may leave American consumers with fewer, more expensive choices.
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Analysts also say the impact on Chinese makers of phones, PCs and the like could be limited, even though Washington appears to be trying to curtail China, a country the US Federal Communications Commission calls an adversary.
“It is hard to determine where each component is tested, when so many things make up a smartphone,” said Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong.
“Some of them are designed and tested in South Korea, some in Japan, some in the US … I don’t know how you can enforce it.”
With a unanimous 4-0 vote, the FCC finalised its new rules on May 22. In justifying the move, the government agency said it had found that Chinese labs – those recognised as having tested American-bound devices over the years – retain deep connections with the Communist Party and military.
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“These labs provide a gateway into the US telecommunications infrastructure,” FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in a May 22 statement. “It is not hard to imagine that an unreliable lab – one beholden to a foreign adversary – could sign off on insecure gear entering the US.”