Republican lawmakers press Biden Commerce nominee on Huawei stance

WASHINGTON: Three China hardliners in the Senate are calling on President Joe Biden’s Commerce Department nominee to clarify if she would remove China’s telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies Ltd from a trade blacklist under any circumstances.

The letter from Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse and Tom Cotton comes after the nominee, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, sparked fears among China hawks when she vowed to protect U.S. telecommunications networks from Chinese companies but declined to commit to keeping Huawei on the list.

“We ask that you respond in writing with your view of whether you foresee any scenario in which you would, if confirmed as Secretary,…remove Huawei…from the Entity List,” or relax rules governing its access to 5G technology, the senators wrote in the letter, released Friday.