As part of a settlement for breaking sanctions and selling electronics to Iran<br />and North Korea, ZTE agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.19 billion in fines, the United States Department of Commerce said in an announcement.<br />Although China and the United States have occasionally traded barbs over technology policy<br />and cyberattacks, the actions against ZTE by the United States government have not had a major impact on the relationship of the two countries, though Beijing could respond harshly to the new fine.<br />In addition to ZTE, the Commerce Department is also investigating the company’s larger Chinese rival, Huawei, for violating United States sanctions.<br />One, from 2011 and signed by several senior ZTE executives, detailed how the company had “ongoing projects in all five major embargoed countries — Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria<br />and Cuba.” Another document laid out in a complex flow chart a method for circumventing United States export controls.
