The US government is still out on a virtual witch-hunt, essentially making work of stigmatising Chinese telecoms hardware and services. Following a two-year-long debacle between former US president Donald Trump and Huawei, the new administration looks set to continue down the blacklisting path with Xiaomi. Lucky for Xiaomi, a US judge has placed a temporary halt its inclusion on a US blacklist.
Show me the Xiaomi
This comes after Xiaomi decided to take the US government to court for trying to place it on a military blacklist. This is different to the Entity List (that’s where Huawei and its subsidiaries reside), in that it’ll force US-based investors to divest their holdings in the company. Clearly, it’s not a good look for the company, which has grown exponentially in popularity in the West over the past few years.
The US Department of Defense reportedly decided that the telecoms company is part of a Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC) — something they have zero proof of. Thus a US Federal Judge by the name of Contreras recently announced that they ruled in Xiaomi’s favour to halt its placement on the list. The ruling was only to stop the listing process, but the judge believes it should be dropped in its entirety.
“The company believes that the decisions of designating it as a CCMC are arbitrary and capricious, as the judge agrees. The company will continue to request that the court permanently remove the designation,” Xiaomi said, according to Android Authority.