Chinese phone and equipment manufacturer ZTE has increased it’s lobbying efforts with the US Congress following a House Intelligence Committee report that said it and Huawei posed a threat to national security in the US. According to Bloomberg, this report effectively made it impossible for companies to use Huawei or ZTE networking equipment in their infrastructures. Prior to this report, ZTE spent about $80,000 for lobbying efforts over the course of six months. This year, the company has spent $330,000, essentially four times as much, in efforts to get its position heard in Congress.
The Congressional report claimed that Huawei and ZTE could be influenced by the Chinese government to spy on the US or compromise its power grid using equipment purchased and installed here by local companies. Both Huawei and ZTE have denied the allegations and called for further investigations.
ZTE did not provide a comment on the increased levels of spending, as all it wants is this negative report to go away. Seems the lobbying has just began and they are expected to spend more than a few hundred dollars.
