China Unicom’s US subsidiary filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission on June 9, warning that a proposed Trump administration rule banning American telecom companies from interconnecting with Chinese firms would blow a hole in global communications infrastructure.
What the proposed rule would actually do
The FCC’s proposed regulation would prohibit American telecommunications carriers from maintaining interconnection agreements with Chinese firms on the agency’s national security “Covered List.” That list includes the three biggest names in Chinese telecom: China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Telecom.
When you make a call, send a message, or transmit data between the US and China, that traffic has to physically travel through infrastructure operated by carriers on both sides. Those carriers have agreements with each other to hand off that traffic seamlessly. The FCC wants to sever those handshake deals entirely.
China Unicom argued in its filing that barring these interconnections would disrupt critical communication links between the two countries. American companies with extensive business operations in China, the company warned, would face direct harm. Supply chains across multiple industries could be affected.
