With the world's economic recovery showing no signs of improvement, we have seen countries resorting to protectionist measures as the last straw to save their ailing economies. Still, it is shocking to learn that the United States is proposing to shut Chinese companies out of the US market.
A draft report by the US House Intelligence Committee accuses two Chinese technology firms - Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp - of posing a national security threat to the US. The report says, "China has the means, opportunity, and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes."
Such allegations do not hold water and only stain the image of the US itself and dampen the enthusiasm of Chinese companies to do businesses in the US.
Huawei and ZTE, which are among the world's leading suppliers of telecommunications equipment and cell phones, have expanded their business in roughly 140 countries. Both non-governmental companies have grown through entrepreneurship and technological innovation and have been developing their international business based on market economy principles.
Yet this is not the first time the two have been put under scrutiny in the US. In the past, US lawmakers have blocked several proposed deals between the two Chinese companies and their US business partners.
