Huawei’s decision to sever its ties with former subsidiary brand Honor last year in order to ensure the latter’s survivability from US sanctions may end up in vain. According to a report by The Washington Post, US officials voted at four federal agencies last week whether to place the now-independent company on the Department of Commerce’s entity list.
Fortunately for Honor, the supposed vote was split evenly down the middle. The publication says that officials from the Pentagon and Energy Department were in favour of placing the company on the entity list, while those under the US Department of Commerce and State Department were against it.
However, the Chinese consumer tech manufacturer is not out of the boiling hot water just yet, as a conclusion is still reportedly expected despite the vote ending up being a stalemate. The Washington Post added that political appointees at the aforementioned agencies are still required to decide on the ultimatum. Should it remain inconclusive after that, there’s a possibility that the issue could eventually make its way to the desk of US president Joe Biden.
When reached out by the publication, the US Department of Commerce declined to comment regarding the alleged vote, but noted that it and other agencies will continually review the risk of nominated companies that are suspected of sharing US technology illegally. “We remain committed to using a full range of tools, including… export controls, to deter efforts by the [People’s Republic of China] and other countries… that seek to leverage technology in ways that risk harming US national security and foreign policy interests,” said spokesperson Brittany Caplin to The Washington Post.
Honor mainly focuses on consumer technologies such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets. This is unlike its former parent company Huawei, whose business also includes selling telecommunications equipment, which was alleged by the US to be potential security threats. Regardless, should the worst case scenario become a reality, its blacklisting will result in difficulties securing components and software from US-based companies such as Qualcomm and Microsoft for its future products – a situation that is all too familiar to the company.
(Source: The Washington Post)
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