US threatens to block China Telecom from operating in American market

The top departments of the US government support cutting off Beijing-controlled China Telecom from serving the US market because of legal and security risks, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The departments, including Defense, State, and Homeland Security, "unanimously recommended that the Federal Communications Commission revoke and terminate China Telecom (Americas) Corp.'s authorisations to provide international telecommunications services to and from the United States," the Justice Department said.

"The Executive Branch agencies identified substantial and unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks associated with China Telecom's operations, which render the FCC authorizations inconsistent with the public interest," it said.

Earlier,