China’s complaints about unfair treatment to Huawei ring hollow
Britain’s widely predicted dumping of Huawei has provoked some equally predictable responses from China.
Besides the threats of retribution, two kinds of responses stick out.
One is the refrain from Chinese diplomats demanding “an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment” for Chinese businesses in the UK.
The other is from commentators that the ban is an act of “self-harm.” A Huawei spokesperson said it would condemn the UK to the “digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide.”
These views would certainly raise the eyebrows of any of the handful of foreign telcos doing business in China.
To convey a sense of China’s fair and non-discriminatory practices in telecoms, government think-tank CAICT has just issued some data on “foreign-invested telecommunications companies” approved to provide value-added services.
According to the CAICT list, the government has issued 385 licenses to 266 companies with various levels of foreign investment. Of these, 314 licenses, or 82%, are for online data and transaction processing, information service and domestic call centers.
To put this into context, 84,000 domestic companies have been issued licenses.
So while the rest of the telecom industry is working on integrating AI, autonomous vehicles, massive IoT or digital media into their networks, China is pleased to announce that foreign firms are doing online transaction processing and running call centers. For every 316 Chinese firms with a VAS license, one foreign company is licensed.
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