Huawei filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging a year-old decision by the FCC when it designated the Chinese-based company and ZTE as national security threats. Then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said there was an “overwhelming weight of evidence,” that proved reportedly close ties to China’s government. That relationship, Pai said, also required the company to cooperate with the country’s spy agencies. Huawei has been fighting U.S. sanctions and others ever since, according to the Wall Street Journal, and is making an effort to “claw back” restrictions imposed by former President Donald Trump.
The suit alleges the FCC overstepped its authority with an “arbitrary, capricious abuse of discretion not supported by substantial evidence” when it issued the judgement. The Commission order prevented U.S. telecoms from accessing the agency’s Universal Service Fund to buy networking equipment or technology from Huawei.
Although Huawei claimed there was little proof of its support of clandestine operations, the Washington Post published a report last year that said the company had tested a facial recognition system. The system was never deployed, the Post reported, but it would have allowed Chinese authorities to identify minority Uyghur individuals residing in the United States. The ethnic Chinese group is largely made up of immigrants from the Xinjiang Province in Central China known for their independence..
Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei, said he would welcome the chance to talk to President Joe Biden. “We still hope to be able to buy a lot of U.S. components, parts and machinery so that U.S. companies can also develop with the Chinese economy,” he said.
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