U.S. imposes export restrictions on China's ZTE

The United States on Monday announced export restrictions on China's telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp. and three affiliated entities, triggering strong opposition from the Chinese side.

The U.S. Commerce Department said in a public notice that it is imposing the restrictions owing to their violation of the U.S. export controls on Iran.

The department has added ZTE Corp., ZTE Kangxun, Beijing 8-Star, and ZTE Parsian to the Entity List under the Export Administration Regulations, with the excuse that they re-exported controlled items to Iran.

The restrictions will make it difficult for the companies to acquire U.S. products as ZTE's suppliers will be required to apply for an export license before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE.

ZTE suspended its share trading on Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges as from Monday as a result of the U.S. export restrictions.

The company stressed in a statement that it has been fully committed to compliance with the laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which it operates, saying it "has been cooperating and will continue to cooperate and communicate with all U.S. agencies as required" and is working expeditiously toward the resolution of this issue.

Reports emerged over the weekend that the U.S. Commerce Department was set to place export restrictions on ZTE.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Monday told a daily press briefing in Beijing that China always opposes incidents where the United States uses its domestic laws to impede Chinese companies.

"We hope the U.S. side can stop the wrong decision to prevent harming our trade cooperation and the bilateral relations," said the spokesman.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday also expressed its strong opposition to the incident in a statement, saying the action by the U.S. side will seriously impact Chinese enterprises' normal operations in the United States.

"The U.S. move will severely impair normal commercial activities of the Chinese firms. China will continue to engage with the U.S. side on the issue," according to the statement.

"ZTE has created tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S. through trade and investment cooperation with hundreds of local enterprises," said the statement.