China News Agency, Beijing, August 14 (Reporter Pang Wuji) The US NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) government ban on purchases of five Chinese companies came into effect on the 13th local time. According to this ban, U.S. government buyers will not be able to use federal government funds to purchase equipment and services from these five companies.
As one of the Chinese companies on the purchase ban, Chen Qingzhou, the founder and chairman of Hytera Communications Co., Ltd., recently accepted an interview with media including China News Service, and responded to this question for the first time. Chen Qingzhou said that Hytera will not easily give up the US market and is not afraid of competition with US companies.
As a leading company in the global professional wireless communications field, Hytera's business covers more than 120 countries and regions around the world, and it is also the world's second largest professional communications equipment manufacturer after Motorola.
Since entering the US market in 2001, Hytera has been operating in the US for 20 years. Chen Qingzhou said frankly that the US market is very important to Hytera, and the impact of the purchase ban is mainly reflected in the US government procurement business.
However, Chen Qingzhou said that since 2018, Hytera has gradually reduced its business in the U.S. government market and focused more on the commercial market. So overall, this ban will have an impact on Hytera’s sales in the United States. It will not be particularly big.
However, the ban has an obvious impact on the company's potential business opportunities. Some new products and new technologies, such as: 5G new technologies and solutions, cannot enter the US market through government procurement.
Although it is becoming more and more difficult to do business in the United States, Chen Qingzhou said that the company will not easily abandon the US market, "as long as there is an opportunity, it will stick to it." At this stage, we will focus more on the commercial market in the United States, serve customers in the commercial market, and make our products better.
At present, China and the United States have certain disputes in the fields of trade and technology, but Chen Qingzhou believes that the technology and manufacturing of the two countries are actually highly integrated, and some areas are even more complementary. The two countries are each other’s world's first. The big and second-largest market is the real "combination brings both benefits." Whether it is sanctions, blockades, or the establishment of trade barriers, it will do great harm to the businesses and people of both sides.
In addition, Chen Qingzhou said that banning Chinese companies is actually detrimental to the United States.
He believes that whether it is a procurement ban on Chinese companies or a "ban on sales" of China's high-end chips, these are actually market protection measures and a manifestation of a closed market. Past experience has shown that the government protects local companies through administrative orders. This behavior will only "raise lazy people" and will only reduce the company's ability to innovate and its ability to participate in market competition.
For example, he said that in the United States, only three Apple mobile phones can buy one digital trunked walkie-talkie; in China, one Apple mobile phone can buy two digital trunked walkie-talkies. Because of market protection, the price of digital trunking radios in the United States is much higher than that in the Chinese market.
Another example is the US ban on China's high-end chips. Chen Qingzhou believes that in the long run, it will also harm the development of US companies and their chip industry. Such trade protection measures will only lead to the transfer of the chip market. Chinese companies switch to domestic chips or switch to chip suppliers in Japan, South Korea, or Europe. This means that the US chip industry will lose a major global market.
Chips require high technology and high capital investment. Once part of the market is lost, the enthusiasm for capital investment will gradually decrease and technological innovation will gradually weaken. Chen Qingzhou pointed out that the iteration of mobile phones is generally 3-5 years, which means that if the ban continues for a longer period of time, the sales of chips in the United States will gradually decrease.
Chen Qingzhou emphasized that an open market is conducive to the development of enterprises and is conducive to healthy competition. This is a fact confirmed by China's reform and opening up in the past few decades.
Although the current international environment is becoming more and more complex, and the risks of doing business with the United States in particular are increasing internationally, he believes that companies should not retreat, but should instead make greater efforts to explore the international market.
Of course, he reminded that in this process, we must attach great importance to international business compliance and safety. It is necessary to understand the various requirements of the market to enter, so as to better integrate into the entire global business management system. (Finish)