China tech’s grip persists in the US, long after Donald Trump’s orders to rip it out

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US Congress last year allocated US$1.9 billion to the Rip and Replace programme to help rural telecoms replace their Chinese network gear with Western products

But when the agency in January tallied the funds requested by 181 applicants, it came to US$5.6 billion, almost three times the available funds

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Bloomberg

Published: 10:00pm, 12 May 2022Updated: 3:17pm, 8 Jun 2022

It has been three years since US officials sounded the alarm: citing national security threats, the White House, Congress and federal agencies began ordering that certain Chinese-made equipment had to be ripped out from telecommunications and security networks.

But delays, deferrals and a serious funding shortfall have left that threat largely unaddressed, and Chinese technology remains in place throughout America – including in some surprising places.

More than 100 telecoms providers are still connecting mobile phone calls for hundreds of thousands of customers with gear from Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE. Chinese-made equipment is also still serving Department of Defense (DOD) facilities, the corporate jets of some of the largest US companies and the biggest commercial airlines.

“It’s striking that it’s taking people so long to wake up to this reality,” says Isaac Stone Fish, founder and chief executive officer of Strategy Risks, a New York-based consulting firm that helps companies mitigate their exposure to China. “As US-China tensions continue to worsen, and growing numbers of people in the US national security establishment view China as an adversary and likely future combatant in a hot war, certain types of Chinese technology pose clear and present national security threats.”

Meanwhile, the mandate to rid US telecoms networks of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese tech is also posing a public safety risk. Carriers say that without adequate funding for a federal aid programme known as "Rip and Replace", they will have to cut service to swathes of rural America, reducing the reach of 911 services along busy highways – or halt it altogether.

While there’s no penalty for failing to meet the mandate, there is a pressing deadline: Because the Chinese manufacturers are ending their US-based service programmes, networks that rely on their equipment are one lightning strike away from a crisis.