US agencies consider a ban for newly independent Honor

Security agencies in the United States are debating whether to place Honor, the former Huawei brand, on an export blacklist, The Washington Post reports.

Staff members of the Pentagon and Energy Department want the new company put on the entity list (a list of companies that is banned from trading with US companies unless they receive a special permission), while the Commerce Department and State Department opposed.

Personnel at these agencies was split whether Honor deserves its place on the list as a threat to US national security. The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee has stated that “same concerns about technology exports” should apply to Honor since it is a state-backed company.

However, The Washington Post reminded the brand is now owned by Zhixin New Information Technology - a company formed by two state-backed investors, tied to the Shenzhen municipal government.

The opposing side argues Honor does not make nuclear materials or components, nor its devices are sold in the United States, so it makes no sense to ban the brand from trading with US companies, and that would hurt more the US economy instead of China.

Some experts say that Honor should end up on the entity list simply because it is a former unit of a “well-investigated bad actor”, while others say if there is no evidence that the brand is secretly funneling chips and technology to Huawei, there’s no justification for any sanctions.

Honor hasn’t commented on the matter at this point.

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