By Rhealyn C. Pojas
Senate CIP Committee chairman John Skebong asked the Palau National Communications Corporation (PNCC) to look into the possibility of sharing national security concerns with the other countries who are proposing to block or had already prohibited their governments from using telecommunications equipment from two Chinese tech giants, Huawei and ZTE.
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In a letter dated February 14, 2018 which was addressed to PNCC Board of Trustees Chairman Norman Ngiratecheboet, Skebong had inquired whether the PNCC had taken the time to consider the issue especially after a bill had been recently proposed in the United States which seeks to prohibit the U.S government from using any telecommunications equipment from the two Chinese companies.
Skebong also cited in the letter that Australia had already blocked Huawei from tendering for the National Broadband Network in the Photoa cable system in the Solomon Islands which was funded by the Australian government and the Asian Development Bank.
Skebong sent the letter to the PNCC head especially at the knowledge that the recent changes at the telecommunications office “now rely exclusively on Huawei telecommunications service and equipment, particularly in mobile networking services.”
“Has PNCC taken time to consider these and the possibility that we should share the same national security concerns, and therefore, act accordingly to protect our telecommunications industry, our resident customers and the Republic?” the letter reads, inquiring further whether discretionary protective measures were considered and satisfied in the bid selection process that awarded the product and services contracts to Huawei.
Reason for the prohibition
In previous reports by the international media, Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio and Representative Mike Conaway were cited to have introduced the bill which was dubbed as the Defending U.S. Government Communications Act. The bill aims to ban US government agencies from using phones and equipment from the companies.
In a press release posted on Conaway’s official website which was dated January 12, Conaway was quoted saying that “Chinese commercial technology is a vehicle for the Chinese government to spy on United States federal agencies” hence posing severe national threat.
“Allowing Huawei, ZTE, and other related entities access to U.S. government communications would be inviting Chinese surveillance into all aspects of our lives. This legislation falls directly in line with President Trump’s policy of putting American national security interests first, a policy I’m proud to support,” Conaway stated in the same press statement.
Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) had also warned American citizens to refrain from using products and services made by the two Chinese tech giants, according to a report by The Verge. [/restrict]