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No HUAWEI or ZTE devices sold on military bases, per Pentagon
July 13, 2025
By order of The Pentagon, all retail establishments located on United States military bases must cease selling devices made by bothHuaweiandZTE. The Department of Defense reasons that using devices made by those Chinese manufacturers couldpose a security risk.
In a statement a Pentagon representative gave toThe Wall Street Journal, the DoD says that “HUAWEI and ZTE devices may pose an unacceptable risk to the department’s personnel, information, and mission. In light of this information, it was not prudent for the department’s exchanges to continue selling them.”
To be clear, this order does not ban the use of HUAWEI and ZTE equipment from military bases, and military personnel can still obtain and keep devices purchased from other retail establishments. Though The Pentagon did clarify that it is considering sending out a military-wide advisory about the perceived dangers of HUAWEI and ZTE hardware.
Huawei, in response to the ban, issued a statement toThe Verge:
ZTE has yet to issue a statement of its own on the matter.
According to an anonymous source speaking withThe Wall Street Journal, military leaders are worried that China could use HUAWEI and ZTE devices to locate soldiers in the field. Both HUAWEI and ZTE state that no such capability exists.
This new military declaration is one of many setbacks that both HUAWEI and ZTE have had recently. HUAWEI, in response to these and other issues with the United States government, hasscaled back its intentionsto break into America significantly. ZTE, however, faces more significant problems since American companies are nowbanned from selling productsto the Chinese smartphone manufacturer. However, this is unrelated to the threat of Chinese spying and instead due to its flagrant violations of Iranian trade bans.
TheHUAWEI P20 Prois currently one of the best-reviewed Android phones and settingsales records globally. It is not available in the United States.
NEXT:Signs point to HUAWEI giving up on America
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