On April 24th, U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, requesting the government to revoke all export licenses for Huawei.
Huawei’s release of a laptop computer with an Intel artificial intelligence chip on April 11th raised concerns among Republican members of the U.S. Congress.
In a statement released by Senator Rubio’s office on April 25th, it was emphasized that Huawei is associated with the Chinese Communist Party and has a history of conducting espionage activities against U.S. military facilities. U.S. companies are prohibited from doing business with the company without permission. However, Huawei recently launched a computer with the new Intel “Core Ultra 9” processor, indicating that the Biden administration is allowing Intel and other potential U.S. companies to trade with Huawei, effectively giving this sanctioned Chinese company a new lease on life.
Rubio and Congresswoman Stefanik wrote to Secretary of Commerce Raimondo regarding Huawei’s acquisition of advanced Intel processors from the U.S.
The two legislators emphasized that if the Commerce Department does authorize the export of this technology to Huawei, “it would be unacceptable,” and a failure of the U.S. to implement export controls on a blacklisted Chinese champion enterprise. In 2019, Huawei was placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List for undermining U.S. national security.
The two lawmakers urged the Commerce Department to completely block exports to Huawei.
“We urge you to reconsider this destructive posture and immediately revoke all export permits to Huawei,” the letter stated.
Rubio and Stefanik reiterated in the letter the close relationship between Huawei and the Chinese Communist Party.
“Huawei has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and its armed forces, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The company also has a disturbing and well-documented history of spying on the most sensitive U.S. military facilities as well as third-party countries. Huawei is currently subject to the Commerce Department’s ‘presumption of denial’ license policy, but recent news clearly indicates that U.S. technology, including cutting-edge Intel processors, continues to flow to Huawei.”
The legislators also pressed the Commerce Department to take further action. They stated in the letter that the related Intel chipsets are reportedly the most advanced, with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, allowing users to execute AI tasks without relying on cloud servers. Allowing U.S. cutting-edge technology to enter Huawei’s latest computers will only make it easier for the Chinese Communist Party to circumvent U.S. technology restrictions and take the lead in the field of AI. If the Commerce Department fails to enforce its own export control system, it will benefit the Chinese Communist Party and its military, who are trying to undermine U.S. global leadership.
“We urge you to immediately revoke export permits that allow U.S. technology to aid our adversaries, depriving Huawei of valuable American technology and slowing down the Chinese Communist Party’s progress towards the technological frontier,” the letter concluded.