Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

US to restrict visas for employees of Huawei, other Chinese tech firms

US to restrict visas for employees of Huawei, other Chinese tech firms

US State Department is targeting certain employees for their roles in enabling human rights abuses, says Mike Pompeo. The move puts further pressure on Huawei after Britain announced a plan to phase the company out of the UK’s 5G networks

The US government intends to place visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, putting further pressure on the company after Britain announced a plan to phase out usage of the company’s equipment from the UK’s 5G networks.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his department was targeting employees of Huawei and possibly other Chinese technology companies for their role in enabling human rights abuses at home and abroad, hammering at a theme that has guided his hardline stance against Beijing.

“The UK joins the United States and now many other democracies becoming … nations free of untrusted 5G vendors,” Pompeo said on Wednesday.

“The United States has a Huawei announcement of our own today,” Pompeo told reporters in Washington. “The State Department will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese technology companies like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally.”

Pompeo made the remarks a day after President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and an executive order that will remove the city’s preferential trade status. The order followed Pompeo’s official determination in May that China has undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy to a degree that required a policy response.

The autonomy act requires “mandatory sanctions” against any foreign individual for “materially contributing” to the violation of China’s commitments to Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution. The Joint Declaration prescribed that the city would enjoy a “high degree of autonomy” until at least 2047.

Washington had already revoked Hong Kong’s preferential access to export licence exemptions, cutting the city off from sensitive technology shipments from the US in response to China’s controversial national security law for the city.

Pompeo did not specify which employees, or which type of employee, the restrictions are targeting, owing to “confidentiality that we place around the visa process”, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in an interview.

The abuses that Pompeo was referring to include internment camps in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), “but certainly not limited to that ... the company or the entity could be involved in human rights abuses outside of China, and these visa restrictions would still be applicable”.

Ortagus added that family members of the targeted employees would face the same restrictions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to ban Huawei from his country’s 5G networks follows escalating tension between London and Beijing, amid pressure from Washington to make the move.



Pompeo argued that US government pressure was not the primary reason for Johnson’s decision, attributing the move to conclusions reached by national security reviews carried out by the UK.

“They did this because their security teams came to conclude same conclusion that ours have, that you can't protect this information,” Pompeo said. “Information that transits across these untrusted networks that are of Chinese origin will almost certainly end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Canada is the only member of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence consortium – also made up of the United States, Australia and New Zealand – yet to block Huawei on security grounds from at least part of its high-speed 5G internet infrastructure.

While Canada has not moved against Huawei as decidedly as the other four have in terms of equipment bans, the country is playing a lead role in the detention of the telecoms giant’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is in the midst of hearings in Vancouver meant to decide whether Canadian authorities will hand her over to the US.

The US wants Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, to face trial on fraud charges in New York. Meng was arrested by Canadian police at Vancouver’s international airport in 2018, acting on a US warrant, infuriating Beijing.




Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×