{"id":278871,"date":"2021-06-18T21:39:19","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T18:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/pacific-undersea-cable-project-sinks-after-u-s-warns-against-chinese-bid\/"},"modified":"2021-06-18T21:39:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T18:39:19","slug":"pacific-undersea-cable-project-sinks-after-u-s-warns-against-chinese-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/pacific-undersea-cable-project-sinks-after-u-s-warns-against-chinese-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"#Pacific undersea cable project sinks after U.S. warns against Chinese bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Pacific undersea cable project sinks after U.S. warns against Chinese bid<\/strong>”
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SYDNEY\/BEIJING, June 18 \u2013 A World Bank-led\u00a0project\u00a0declined to award a contract to lay sensitive\u00a0undersea\u00a0communications\u00a0cables\u00a0after Pacific\u00a0island governments heeded\u00a0U.S. warnings that participation of a\u00a0Chinese\u00a0company posed a security threat, two sources told Reuters.<\/p>\n

The former Huawei Marine Networks, now called HMN Technologies and majority owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, submitted a\u00a0bid\u00a0for the $72.6 million\u00a0project\u00a0priced at more than 20% below rivals Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland\u2019s Nokia, and Japan\u2019s NEC, the sources said.<\/p>\n

The East Micronesia\u00a0Cable\u00a0system was designed to improve communications in the island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), by providing underwater infrastructure with a far greater data capacity than satellites.<\/p>\n

Two sources with direct knowledge of the tender told Reuters that the\u00a0project\u00a0reached a stalemate due to security concerns raised within the island nations over HMN Tech\u2019s\u00a0bid. The\u00a0project\u2019s planned connection to a sensitive\u00a0cable\u00a0leading to Guam, a\u00a0U.S. territory with substantial military assets, heightened those security concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven there was no tangible way to remove Huawei as one of the\u00a0bidders, all three\u00a0bids were deemed non-compliant,\u201d one of those sources said.<\/p>\n

The source said that HMN Tech was in a strong position to win the\u00a0bid\u00a0due to the terms overseen by the development agencies, prompting those wary of\u00a0Chinese\u00a0involvement to find an expedient solution to end the tender.<\/p>\n

The World Bank said in a statement to Reuters that it was working with the respective governments to map out the next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process has concluded without an award due to non-responsiveness to the requirements of the\u00a0bidding documents,\u201d the Washington-based multilateral lender said.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0Chinese\u00a0foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters that all parties should provide a non-discriminatory business environment that companies from all countries, including China, can participate in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a matter of principle, I want to emphasise that\u00a0Chinese\u00a0companies have always maintained an excellent record in cyber security,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0Chinese\u00a0government has always encouraged\u00a0Chinese\u00a0companies to engage in foreign investment and cooperation according to market principles, international regulations and local laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three island nations involved in the\u00a0project\u00a0were represented on the\u00a0bid\u00a0assessment committee. Development agencies typically review the committee\u2019s recommendations to ensure the selected\u00a0bidder complies with the agencies\u2019 policies and procedures.<\/p>\n

A second development bank involved in the\u00a0project, the Asian Development Bank, referred questions from Reuters to the World Bank as the lead agency.<\/p>\n

HMN Tech and Hengtong Group, the parent company, did not respond to emailed questions. A representative who answered the phone at HMN Tech declined to comment.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Nokia-owned ASN told Reuters the company was not authorised to comment on confidential information. NEC did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n

U.S. concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the\u00a0bidding process last year, Washington detailed its concerns in a diplomatic note sent to FSM, which has military defence arrangements with the United States under a decades-old agreement.<\/p>\n

The note said\u00a0Chinese\u00a0firms posed a security threat because they are required to co-operate with Beijing\u2019s intelligence and security services, an assertion rejected by China.<\/p>\n

In separate correspondence, prominent\u00a0U.S. lawmakers warned that the\u00a0Chinese\u00a0government subsidises companies, undermining tenders like those run by development agencies.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0U.S. State Department did not immedia<\/a>tely respond to questions on Thursday.<\/p>\n

While the warnings were issued during the Trump administration, there\u2019s been no app<\/a>arent change to the\u00a0U.S. position on the issue under the new government.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0project\u00a0was designed to connect to the HANTRU-1\u00a0undersea\u00a0cable, a line primarily used by the\u00a0U.S. government that connects to Guam.<\/p>\n

Washington has pressed governments around the world to squeeze\u00a0Chinese\u00a0telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies out of supplying critical infrastructure, alleging the company would hand over data to the\u00a0Chinese\u00a0government for spying, a charge consistently denied by the company.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0U.S. Commerce Department publicly lists Huawei Marine on its so-called \u201cEntity List\u201d \u2013 known as a blacklist \u2013 which restricts the sale of\u00a0U.S. goods and technology<\/a> to the company. The Department did not immediately respond to questions on whether the change in Huawei Marine\u2019s ownership changed this status.<\/p>\n

Nauru, which has strong ties to Australia and is a\u00a0Pacific\u00a0ally to Taiwan, initially raised concerns over the\u00a0bid\u00a0lodged by the\u00a0Chinese\u00a0company.<\/p>\n

The third island nation involved in the\u00a0project, Kiribati, has forged strong bilateral ties with Beijing in recent years, which includes drawing up plans to upgrade a remote airstrip<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for FSM said the government was unable to comment on the\u00a0project. Representatives of Nauru and Kiribati did not respond to questions.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Pacific undersea cable project sinks after U.S. warns against Chinese bid” SYDNEY\/BEIJING, June 18 \u2013 A World Bank-led\u00a0project\u00a0declined to award a contract to lay sensitive\u00a0undersea\u00a0communications\u00a0cables\u00a0after Pacific\u00a0island governments heeded\u00a0U.S. warnings that participation of a\u00a0Chinese\u00a0company posed a security threat, two sources told Reuters. The former Huawei Marine Networks, now called HMN Technologies and majority owned by Shanghai-listed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/pohnpei-international-airport.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[109769,20358,4973,71460,71525,70783,74332],"class_list":["post-278871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-6-18-21","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-guam","tag-national-security","tag-ocean","tag-world-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}