Gina Raimondo, U.S. President-elect candidate Joe Biden, as secretary of commerce, speaks during an event to announce members of Biden’s economic and labor team at its transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, January 8, 2021.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Three Chinese advocates in the Senate are asking Presidential candidate Joe Biden to head the Commerce Department to clarify whether he would remove Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies from the commercial blacklist in any case.
The letter from Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse and Tom Cotton comes after the candidate, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, sparked outrage among Chinese hawks when he vowed to protect U.S. telecommunications networks from Chinese companies. but refused to commit to keeping Huawei on the list. .
“We ask that you respond in writing with your opinion on whether you anticipate any scenario in which, if confirmed as secretary, … you will remove Huawei … from the list of entities” or relax the rules governing access on 5G technology, senators wrote in the letter released Friday.
“The company has not changed alongside the US presidency,” they warned.
The letter is a sign of Capitol Hill’s growing pressure for President Joe Biden to take a hard line against Beijing. Biden’s team generally avoided clear political commitments against China before taking office earlier this month, but has pledged to maintain a tough stance by using a more strategic and multilateral approach.
Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, put Huawei on a commercial blacklist in May 2019 and led a global campaign to convince allies to exclude him from his 5G networks.
Washington has accused the company of being able to spy on customers, as well as intellectual property thefts and sanctions violations. Huawei has denied the wrongdoings.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the administration will work to protect U.S. telecommunications networks from “unreliable providers” such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. that threaten national security. This offered some insight into his plans for the long-held Chinese telecommunications equipment company, long in Washington.
But the comments were not enough to appease the three senators, who raised the specter of opposition to other candidates in the Commerce Department if they do not commit to a tough enough technology policy against Beijing.
“It is equally imperative that all candidates for the Department of Commerce follow your leadership in recognizing both the dangers of the (Chinese Communist Party) and the need to obstruct or squeeze (Chinese) access to American technology that can advance (their) ambitions that are dangerous to the interests of the United States, ”they wrote. “If these candidates do not make it clear that they will adhere to these broad concerns and goals, they may face substantial opposition from Congress,” they added.