The United States has given China's three major telecom operators only 14 days to rectify the issue of “harassing calls,” or else they will be barred from accessing U.S. telecommunications networks.

Per the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) directive, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom must resolve their certification issues within the U.S. Robocall Blocking Database (RMD) within 14 days. The FCC also requires the three Chinese carriers to demonstrate that their presence in the database poses no threat to U.S. national security and aligns with the public interest. The FCC further warned that failure to respond on time would result in the removal of Chinese carriers from the RMD. U.S. carriers would then cease accepting direct calls from Chinese operators.

Many Chinese netizens applauded this U.S. action, stating that finally someone is cracking down on the nuisance calls from the three major carriers.

People are genuinely fed up with these harassing calls. Often unidentified and frequently originating from virtual numbers, they include not only legitimate marketing calls but also numerous scam calls, leaving users vulnerable and unable to guard against them.

Chinese netizens have long demanded stricter controls from the three carriers, yet little progress has been made. People still receive daily harassment calls that disrupt daily life and work, potentially threatening financial security—once targeted by scammers, significant losses can occur at any moment.

Now, the U.S. is requiring its three major carriers to complete certification with the U.S. Robocall Blocking Database (RMD). This will prevent many virtual numbers from passing through U.S. telecom networks, significantly reducing the occurrence of harassment and scam calls.

Many Chinese netizens applaud the U.S. move, stating: “While combating U.S. harassment calls is commendable, and we support anti-fraud efforts globally, this should not be used as a pretext for imposing broad national security restrictions on Chinese companies.”

In reality, the U.S. has already imposed comprehensive restrictions on China's telecommunications sector. As early as 2019, they barred China Mobile from operating in the U.S., later rejecting applications from China Unicom, Pacific Telecom, and other carriers. Even equipment providers like Huawei and ZTE remain barred from the U.S. market. This reveals that the U.S. crackdown on China's three major carriers is far from the straightforward national security justification it presents.

Moreover, the U.S. is essentially crying wolf. While we acknowledge that China's three major carriers have some nuisance calls, many scam calls originating from northern Myanmar are actually facilitated by U.S.-based SpaceX. For instance, when several fraud call centers in northern Myanmar were recently dismantled, a large quantity of Starlink ground equipment was seized. These satellite communications cannot be intercepted by cutting landlines and have become one of the primary means for fraudsters to carry out indiscriminate scams globally. Therefore, if the U.S. genuinely aims to eliminate nuisance and scam calls, it should apply equal scrutiny and restrictions to Starlink.