China's ZTE agrees to $1bn fine and American compliance demands, US's Ross says
Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE has agreed to pay a $1bn fine and to the presence of a compliance team chosen by US officials inside the firm as part of a deal to regain access to American-made components and technology.
The firm had been barred from any access to US technology and parts after it was discovered to have transferred some to Iran and North Korea, in violation of the sanctions that had been placed on the two countries under the aegis of the UN Security Council, of which the Chinese government was one of five permanent members.
ZTE, whose majority shareholder is state-owned Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment, would also be forced to deposit $400m in an escrow account which would be forfeited it the terms of agreement were breached.
According to US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who had negotiated the agreements, the deal was inked at 1000 BST.
In 2012, the US Congress had said that both ZTE and Huawei "Cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems."