IEEE lifts restriction on Huawei but angers the Chinese academia

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) said on June 3rd that the previous restriction of Huawei and its subsidiaries are lifted. Huawei employees are now allowed to participate in the peer reviews of research papers from the U.S. based association.

IEEE has followed the footsteps of other tech organizations such as SD and WiFi, which banned the Chinese telecommunication giant initially and reversed the decision after a few days.

In a statement published on its website, the institution mentioned that the restriction is lifted after receiving clarification from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Our previous restrictive approach was wholly meant to protect our volunteers and members and to avoid relevant legal risks. After we received the relevant instructions, the legal risks were lifted,” it said.

The statement also said that the institution “recognizes that science and technology are a global activity.”

Although the restriction was short-lived, the science and technology communities in China are not amused by these inconsistent changes.

China Computer Federation (CCF), a Beijing-based technology research group, said on May 30th that it would suspend any communications with IEEE. The group also said it would delete some IEEE journals from its catalog.

Zhang Haixia, a professor at the Institute of Microelectronics in Peking University, was the first prominent scientist to resign from IEEE. She mentioned in her social media post that the U.S. based association had gone “far beyond the basic line of science and technology.”

Multiple science and technology associations including the China Institute of Communication and the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence have issued a joint statement on June 2nd, which called for the end of political interference over academic exchange.

Source: Reuters