US should not politicize economic competition

The denial order the United States Commerce Department activated against ZTE on Monday may prove fatal to the Chinese telecommunications company. But the impact of the decision may go beyond the fate of an individual company in the context of the ongoing trade spat and economic competition between the US and China.

The ZTE case in itself is hardly complex. The company admitted violating US sanctions against Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in March 2017 by shipping telecommunications equipment to them.

Aside from agreeing to pay $1.19 billion in fines and to punish the employees involved, it accepted a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges, which was to be activated if there was any new violation or breach of the agreement.