Taiwan warns citizens not to travel to Hong Kong and China after businessman detained

By Ben Westcott and Isaac Yee

Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu, 43, disappeared after he crossed over the border from Hong Kong to the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen on August 19

Hong Kong -- Taiwan's ruling party has warned citizens against traveling to Hong Kong or mainland China, saying the situation is "severe," after a Taiwanese businessman was detained following a visit to the protest-wracked city.
Lee Meng-chu, 43, disappeared after he crossed over the border from Hong Kong to the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen on August 19. 

He was reported missing by a friend, Chen Ya-lin, who was supposed to meet him at Jakarta airport two days later. 

Chen said Lee had attended a protest in Hong Kong before crossing the border.
On Wednesday a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office confirmed that Lee was being questioned for "criminal activities that could jeopardize China's national security." 

The spokesman did not elaborate on the specific accusations against Lee.
Hsueh Cheng-yi, a spokeswoman for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said that the detention had led to fears in Taiwan over the safety of travelers heading to Hong Kong or mainland China.
"The situation inside Hong Kong and China is severe and travel should be reduced. If you have to go to these areas, you must pay close attention to your own safety, and keep your friends and relatives informed of your whereabouts," Hsueh said in a statement.
Taiwan has been self-ruled since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, which saw the Communist Party take control of the mainland and the Nationalist government forced to flee to the island. 

Since then, as Taiwan has transitioned from one-party rule to democracy, Beijing has not given up on one day taking control the island.
Cross-strait tensions have only worsened since the Hong Kong protests began in June, sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill between Hong Kong and mainland China. 

Officials said the law was originally designed to plug a loophole and allow Hong Kong to extradite an accused murderer to Taiwan, but early on Taipei said it would not cooperate with a law that risked its citizens in the city being sent to China.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has also spoken out strongly in support of the protesters, even saying she would consider asylum requests from demonstrators.
There is no indication at this stage whether Lee's detention was related to his attendance at the August 18 protest. 

According to his friend Chen, Lee was the director of the United Nations Association for the Advancement of Taiwan, an organization which advocates for the entry of Taiwan into the UN.
But Chen said that despite his political activism, Lee had no "hard feelings" towards China and wasn't a vocal critic of the Chinese government or the Communist Party. 

Lee regularly traveled to China a number of times a year for his business, Chen added.
Lee's family said he was not a threat to Beijing and called for the Chinese government to explain his detention. 

In a statement, they said Lee was "just an ordinary person."

Megacities: A guide to China's most impressive urban centers

By Maggie Hiufu Wong

With a population of 1.3 billion people and rising, China unsurprisingly boasts the world's highest number of megacities.
So what qualifies as a megacity? 

Most commonly, it's defined as an urban agglomeration of 10 million or more inhabitants.
That's the equivalent of the population of Sweden.
According to the United Nations' data booklet, China has six of the world's 33 megacities. 

The China Statistic Yearbook, however, indicates that there are at least 10 cities with more than 10 million permanent residents.
It's worth noting that population data is tricky to produce in China. 

One reason is the sustained wave of migrant workers moving from rural to urban areas. 

Millions make the switch every year, often without securing the proper household registration, or "hukou."
(Populations listed in this article are the most recent figures released by each provincial government.)
These cities are often some of the country's biggest tourist destinations, too.
"Being a megacity means more business and population, which will certainly increase the exposure of the city in international media," Mimi Li, an associate professor in China Tourism at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, tells CNN Travel.
"Cities with long history such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou benefit from positive brand image and a wealth of cultural attractions. A newly developed vibrant city may bring in business travelers, with Shenzhen as a good example.
"Now that the tourism industry has been seen as a strategic pillar in the national economy of China, we foresee a closer relationship between city development and tourism development," says Li.
Li highlights Hangzhou and Chengdu as up-and-coming tourism hotspots in China.
"Hangzhou would mainly benefit from, in addition to the cultural resources, its vibrant business environment and innovative atmosphere," says Li.
"Chengdu has been long perceived as a leisure city by Chinese domestic tourists. In addition, Chengdu benefits from its vast tourism resources."
Indeed, there's so much more to these cities than just high populations.
Covering everything from exciting tourism developments and financial prowess to geographical grandness, CNN Travel looks beyond the figures to highlight 14 humongous cities -- including China's big six listed by the UN -- that boggle the mind and spark wanderlust among fans of urban spaces.

1. Chongqing

Dubbed an engineering marvel, the highly anticipated Raffles City Chongqing project is nearly complete.

Population: 30.75 million
Area: 82,300 square kilometers
With a staggering population of over 30 million people, Chongqing -- spanning 82,300 square kilometers in China's mid-western region -- is the country's biggest city by far.
To put that into perspective, Canada has a population of 36 million and Austria comprises an area of 83,879 square kilometers.
A municipality with nine urban districts, Chongqing is referred to by some as the world's most populous city -- depending on whether you count Tokyo as Greater Tokyo Area (around 38 million people) or Tokyo Metropolis only (13 million people).
Bear in mind, others scoff at claims that this city is as big as the government claims given the outer limits of Chongqing are filled with farming and mining communities that feel more like villages than urban centers.
Nonetheless, the city is starting to appeal to travelers, too. 

Chongqing was named the world's fastest-growing tourism city according to the World Travel and Tourism Council in 2017.
Chongqing is known for its tongue-numbing chili pepper hotpot -- there are about 30,000 hotpot restaurants in the city -- and a recently renovated Yangtze River Cableway across the river.
A number of large-scale tourism projects are planned for the next few years in Chongqing including a Six Flags theme park.

2. Shanghai
Shanghai might not be China's biggest city, but it's certainly its richest.

Population: 24.18 million
Area: 6,340 square kilometers
While Shanghai's size and population -- 6,340 square kilometers and more than 24 million people (making it the second most populous city in China) -- are already impressive, nothing trumps its financial prowess.
With a GDP of more than RMB 3 trillion (or US$448 billion), Shanghai is the richest city in China.
Its residents are also the country's biggest spenders, with the city amassing RMB 1.1 trillion (US$164.1 billion) total retail sales on consumer goods in 2017.
The Port of Shanghai has been the busiest container port in the world since 2010 -- handling more than 40 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) a year.
In comparison, Singapore, ranked second, handled about seven million fewer TEUs in 2017.
Shanghai is as famous for its futuristic skyscrapers -- the movie "Her" was partly shot in Shanghai -- as its glamorous historical architecture in The Bund and Yuyuan Garden.

3. Beijing
Population: 21.71 million
Area: 16,808 square kilometers
Being the political, historical and cultural heart of China, Beijing is unsurprisingly one of the country's biggest cities.
Serving as the ancient capital in various dynasties, Beijing has been an influential epicenter of China for the past 3,000 years.
It's home to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites -- the most in China, including the Forbidden City, which welcomed 17 million visitors in 2018.
The number easily rivals the number of international tourists for entire countries.
About 21 million people call Beijing home, making it the third most populous city in China.

4. Chengdu
Population: 16.33 million
Area: 12,132 square kilometers
The hometown of pandas and spicy hotpots (its biggest hotpot rival Chongqing will probably object), Chengdu is one of the biggest rising stars in China.
Chengdu has a sizable human population of more than 16 million, but its most popular residents have to be its furry black-and-white residents.
Being home to the world's biggest panda nursery, Chengdu successfully bred 42 of the 45 surviving panda babies in 2018.
Chengdu received 210 million visitors and raked in RMB 303.8 billion ($45 billion) in tourism revenue in 2017, contributing to 34% of Sichuan province's entire income.

5. Harbin
Population: 16.33 million
Area: 12,132 square kilometers
Harbin is a unique Chinese megacity thanks to its supersized winter infrastructure and Russia-influenced architecture (it's just a short distance to the border).
In addition to hosting the world's biggest Ice and Snow Festival, Harbin boasts the world's largest indoor ski park, which is inside the Wanda Harbin Mall (including six ski slopes up to 500 meters long).
Dubbed the Ice City, Harbin endures severe long winters, with temperatures as low as -38°C and a snow season that can last up to half a year.
To warm up the residents, the city also has the world's largest water park -- the 300,000-square-meter (twice the size of the Forbidden City) Poseidon Beach Water World -- with a tropical indoor beach temperature of 30C.

6. Guangzhou
Guangzhou has been a major trading port since the 6th century.

Population: 14.49 million
Area: 7,434 square kilometers
Unlike its Canton-rival Shenzhen, Gangzhou's success story dates back hundreds of years.
A major trading port along the historical maritime Silk Roads as early as the sixth century, Guangzhou is one of the richest cities in China for centuries.
In 2017, it contributed to RMB 2 trillion GDP (or US$297 billion) to the country -- just behind Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.
For tourists, major highlights include the Guangdong Science Center -- the world's largest.
Spanning 450,000 square meters with eight themed exhibition areas, Guangdong Science Center is the Disneyland for STEM-addicted parents and kids.

7. Tianjin
Population: 15.57 million
Area: 11,760 square kilometers
One of the only four municipality-level cities in China, the humble historic seaside city of Tianjin has long been overshadowed by its neighboring capital city Beijing, its glamorous southern counterpart Shanghai and even rapidly rising star Chongqing.
But that doesn't make it less attractive to Chinese citizens.
Tianjin has attracted a population of over 15 million people and a GDP of about RMB1.8 trillion per year.
In recent years, Tianjin has been working to build its tourism and high-tech industries by building a Binhai New Area, where a stunning futuristic seaside library is located.
A high-speed railway route has been built to connect Tianjin to Beijing, shortening the commute to only 30 minutes.

8. Shenzhen

A China Mobile survey carried out in 2017 estimated that around 25 million people live in Shenzhen.

Population: 11.9 million
Area: 2,050 square kilometers
Transforming from a rural village to one of the world's biggest metropolises in just three decades, Shenzhen is an urban Cinderella tale -- and its fairy godfather is China's former leader, Deng Xiaoping.
Being appointed the country's first "special economic zone" by Deng in 1980, Shenzhen hasn't stopped thriving ever since.
Among the 143 buildings completed around the globe in 2018, about 10% of them were built in Shenzhen.
It also has the world's fourth tallest building, the Ping An Finance Centre.
While the official figure claims Shenzhen has around 12 million residents, a China Mobile 2017 survey found that around 25 million people treat Shenzhen as home.
Visiting is easy -- it's just over the border from Hong Kong connected by multiple trains and buses -- including a new bullet train. (Though bear in mind you'll likely need a visa.)

9. Wuhan

Thanks to its central location, Wuhan is one of the biggest transportation hubs in China.

Population: 10.89 million
Area: 8,494 square kilometers
Another megacity in China (with a population of just over 10 million people), Wuhan is the biggest city in the country's central region.
Thanks to its location, Wuhan is one of the biggest transportation hubs in China and its busiest connecting railway hub.
It's home to two humongous lakes -- the 47.6-square-kilometer Tangxun Lake (largest lake enclosed by a city in Asia) and the 33-square-kilometer East Lake.
Wuhan is one of the fastest growing/youngest second-tier cities in China.
It's been luring young graduates to stay in the city with a generous housing policy, offering young talent a 20% discount on rent or purchase of a flat.

10. Shijiazhuang
Population: 10.87 million
Area: 15,849 square kilometers
A relatively unfamiliar name on China's megacity list, Shijiazhuang is the provincial capital city of Hebei.
With about 10 million people living in Shijiazhuang now, it's difficult to imagine that in the early 20th century, Shijiazhuang was an unassuming village of a few hundred people.
It grew rapidly in the last 70 years when railroads were constructed in the area, making it an important transportation hub in the province.
It was designated the provincial capital in 1968.
The city is famous for its rich natural resources and neighboring scenery -- Shijiazhuang sits between the towering Taihang Mountains and the North China Plain.

11. Suzhou
Population: 10.68 million
Area: 8,488 square kilometers
In addition to having a population of between 9-10 million people and one of the highest GDP values in China, Suzhou has plenty of unbeatable attractions, too.
Located 100 kilometers west of Shanghai, Suzhou features some of the most exquisite ancient Chinese gardens in the country.
It's also one of the most historical cities in China, with a history that can be traced back to 2,500 years ago.
Suzhou also has the tallest planned skyscraper in China. 

Towering over the city at 729 meters, once complete it will be second in height, only surpassed by the 828-meter Khalifa Tower in Dubai.
Named Suzhou Zhongnan Center, the tower will be a multi-use project housing tourist attractions, a hotel, luxury residences and offices.
It's expected to be completed in 2021.

12. Hangzhou
Population: 9.8 million
Area: 16,847 square kilometers
According to Hurun Research Institute in 2019, a new unicorn company (a start-up with a company value of over $1 billion) is born about every four days in China, making the country the second largest breeding ground for unicorns in the world (The largest is still the United States).
With 18 unicorn companies, Hangzhou is the third biggest unicorn city by volume -- just after Beijing and Shanghai.
Hangzhou is also home to Alibaba, the e-commerce and tech giant, some of the most beautiful cityscapes, one of the best unknown Chinese cuisines.
West Lake, in the heart of the city, is one of the most romantic lakes in China and also the stage of an impressive Zhang Yimou-directed outdoor show Impression West Lake.
It's also known for producing some of the best silk and tea leaves in China.

13. Dongguan
One fifth of the world's mobile phones are made in Dongguan.

Population: 8.26 million
Area: 2,465 square kilometers
Dubbed the factory of the world, Dongguan has been flourishing thanks to its manufacturing industry.
To cite a few figures, over 70% of the world's computer motherboards, 75% of the world's toys, 20% of the world's smartphones and 10% of the world's shoes are made here.
The world's biggest shopping mall, New South China Mall -- once called a "ghost mall" for its high vacancy rate -- is also in Dongguan. 

The five-million-square feet mall (twice the size of Mall of America, the biggest shopping center in the United States) is now buzzing with activities.
The shopping mall has a giant Egyptian sphinx, a replica of the Arc de Triomphe and an indoor roller coaster.

14. Hulunbuir

Hulunbuir's Matryoshka Hotel claims to have the world's biggest matryoshka doll.

Population: 2.5 million
Area: 263,953 square kilometers
Hulunbuir may not have the population to even come close to being named a megacity, but the prefecture-level city in Inner Mongolia is China's largest city by size.
The total jurisdiction area under Hulunbuir measures 263,954 square kilometers -- just slightly smaller than the US state of Texas.
It constitutes about 20% of Inner Mongolia.
The city is basically one gigantic green carpet -- with about 80,000 square kilometers of grasslands and 120,000 square kilometers of woodland.

China's student activists cast rare light on brewing labor unrest

By Sue-Lin Wong and Christian Shepherd

SHENZHEN, China -- When Shen Mengyu graduated with a master’s degree from a top Chinese university in 2015, she could have landed a comfortable job in government or at one of China’s internet giants.

People hold banners at a demonstration in support of factory workers of Jasic Technology, outside Yanziling police station in Pingshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China August 6, 2018. 

Instead, she went to work at a car parts factory in the southern city of Guangzhou, pursuing her interest in labor activism.
In May, she was fired for organizing workers at the plant. 

Undeterred, she began advocating for workers trying to form an autonomous trade union at Jasic International, a welding machinery exporter in nearby Shenzhen.
Shen is part of a cohort of activists across China who have been supporting and publicizing worker protests and detentions at a time of slowing economic growth.
The activists include students and recent graduates, as well as retired factory workers and Communist Party members.
While they appear to be small in number, the activists are drawing rare attention to calls for greater union representation from Chinese workers, particularly in the south, where demands for more pay are growing.
This unrest poses a challenge for the ruling Communist Party, which opposes independent labor action and punishes protesters. 

It also views the activists as a threat to its authority.
Shen told Reuters last week the authorities had been intimidating her parents to get her to stop her activism.
On Saturday night, after dining with her parents near the Jasic factory, Shen was bundled into a car by three unidentified men, two student activists from Peking University who were at the scene told Reuters.
“Mengyu was shouting ‘What are you doing? Let me go, let me go’,” one of the activists said. “Everything happened so quickly, we ran to get help and by the time we came back she and the car had disappeared.”
The students said they reported the abduction to the police, who doubted their account and refused to take down crucial parts of their statement. 

They were also told that video cameras at the location of the incident were broken.
Calls to Shen and the police went unanswered on Monday.
Local police said on their official social media account Monday that they had been in contact with Shen’s parents.
“This is a matter regarding a family dispute, it is not a kidnapping,” it said, without further explanation. 

Reuters was unable to reach Shen’s parents.

People hold banners at a demonstration in support of factory workers of Jasic Technology, outside Yanziling police station in Pingshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China August 6, 2018. 

WORKER PROTESTS
Protests at the Jasic factory broke out in early July after seven workers attempting to form a union and elect their own leaders were laid off. 

On July 27, after two weeks of protests, the police detained 29 people, including laid-off workers, their families and supporters.
Hundreds of Chinese university students penned open letters on social media in support of the workers, and around 20 traveled to Shenzhen, in Guangdong province.
Unions in China have to register with the official All-China Federation of Trade Unions. 

The federation is more responsive to the demands of management than workers.
On August 6, around fifty student activists and supporters of the Jasic workers protested outside the police station where the workers were detained in Shenzhen.
“Lots of fellow students say: this incident is about workers, what does this have to do with students? I’ll tell them one thing: today’s students are tomorrow’s workers,” said Yue Xin, 22, a recent graduate of Peking University, in a video from the protest she shared online.
Yue, currently a factory worker in southern China, gained prominence in April for pressing her university to make public an investigation into a decades-old rape and suicide case.
The people who traveled to Shenzhen have been facing pressure from their universities, parents and officials, according to nine activists interviewed by Reuters.
“My university advisor has called me repeatedly, accusing me of being involved in illegal activities, “ said one activist from a Guangdong university. 

The activist said he had been told “to think very carefully about what I was doing and how it might impact my studies and my future.”
Some supporters were intercepted on their way to Shenzhen and sent home, the students said.
In interviews, some activists said they were motivated by growing inequality in China, and heard about worker protests in online forums before posts were removed by authorities.
They said they were also exposed to labor issues at student-run university clubs and reading groups.
“Both my parents are factory workers so I have always had an interest in labor rights,” said one of the activists who saw Shen taken away.
The students often speak the same language of Marxist theory and egalitarianism used by the Communist Party, yet have found themselves at odds with the authorities.
Last November, a Peking University graduate, Zhang Yunfan, was detained in Guangzhou after founding a reading group focused on improving the plight of factory workers.
In an online statement on July 29, Jasic denied mistreating workers or blocking their union. 

It said it fired some workers in accordance with the law and that a union was being established. 

Jasic did not respond to a faxed request for further comment.
Shenzhen police said a group of former Jasic workers who illegally entered the factory were being held for investigation. 

The Shenzhen ministry of public security and the detention center where the workers are being held did not respond to faxed requests for comment.

ACTIVISTS HARASSED
The authorities have been keeping close tabs on the factory workers, students and other supporters, according to interviews and eyewitness accounts.
The students -- who are renting accommodation near the Jasic factory – say they have had to move three times, as police pressure landlords to evict them.
People who appeared to be plain clothes police were keeping a close eye on the building where the activists were staying during a recent visit by Reuters.
The activists said police had also set up a fake factory recruitment stand outside the building and infiltrated into the group a mole posing as a former factory worker. 

The factory workers and their supporters communicated with Reuters through multiple phone numbers and WeChat accounts that were continuously shut down.
China does not publish official statistics on numbers of worker protests and strikes.

DIRE CONDITIONS
Former workers at Jasic, which employs more than 1,000 people, say conditions in the company’s factory are dire.
“Sometimes we would work for one month straight without any time off,” said Huang Lanfeng, 25, a former Jasic employee who was detained for protesting. 

“They wouldn’t let us freely quit and they even watched us go to the toilet.”
She added: “I’ve worked at a lot of factories and none were as bad as Jasic.”
Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at the Kong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin, said the protests could resonate at other factories.
“It certainly has the potential to be replicated if the workers from another factory are similarly motivated and well organized,” he said.
The Communist Party has pushed for unions to better protect workers, but the efforts were “superficial”, he said.
“It really does impinge on the party’s legitimacy.”

HARSH TREATMENT
As of Sunday, 15 of the detained workers and supporters had been freed. 

Four detainees told Reuters they were treated harshly in detention, with police threatening them with death and saying they would not be released unless they confessed.
The workers’ accounts jibe with stories from detained advocates in other incidents and follow an established pattern of Chinese police interrogation, according to Patrick Poon, a Hong Kong-based researcher at Amnesty International.
The detentions have become an even greater rallying cry for the activists.
“What started out as a labor dispute turned into unfair dismissals and police abuse which has galvanized supporters from both around the country and around the world,” Shen told Reuters on August 6, before she was taken away in the car.

Dura lex, sed lex

ZTE main business operations cease due to U.S. ban

By Sijia Jiang

HONG KONG -- ZTE Corp’s main business operations have ceased due to a ban imposed by the U.S. government, but China’s second biggest telecom equipment maker is trying to have the ban modified or reversed, it said on Wednesday.
ZTE was hit by a ban last month from Washington, forbidding U.S. firms from supplying it with components and technology after it was found to have violated U.S. export restrictions by illegally shipping goods to Iran.
“As a result of the Denial Order, the major operating activities of the company have ceased,” ZTE said in the exchange filings late on Wednesday.
“As of now, the company maintains sufficient cash and strictly adheres to its commercial obligations subject in compliance with laws and regulations,” it said.
The U.S. action, first reported by Reuters, could be devastating to ZTE.
As one of the world’s largest telecom equipment makers alongside Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, ZTE relies on U.S. companies such as Qualcomm and Intel for up to a third of its components.
Analysts have said it will be hard for ZTE to stay competitive even if it could find non-American suppliers.
Taiwanese semiconductor company Mediatek said last week it had received a permit from the Taiwanese government to continue to supply ZTE.
ZTE said it was actively communicating with the U.S. government “in order to facilitate the modification or reversal of the Denial Order by the U.S. government and forge a positive outcome in the development of matters.”
The ban that threatens to cut off ZTE’s supply chain came amid heightened tension over a U.S.-China trade war. 

The Chinese government raised the issue of ZTE last week with a visiting U.S. trade delegation.
ZTE said on Sunday it had submitted a request to the U.S. Commerce Department for the suspension of the ban.
ZTE appears to have suspended its online stores on its own website as well as on Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platform Taobao over the past few days, which display a “page being updated” message with no products to order.
The Chinese firm did not respond to calls and messages from Reuters seeking comment.
Consumer Cellular Inc, a U.S. wireless operator, said ZTE was unable to continue supplying phones after the sanctions, but had asked the company to hold inventory spots open as it worked to resolve the export ban, said Consumer Cellular Chief Executive John Marick in an interview.
Marick said ZTE has not given guidance on whether its phones can continue receiving software updates from Android, and discussions between the companies have been about ensuring ZTE can supply parts and service to honor phone warranties.
A ZTE employee told Reuters that staff had been reporting to work as normal but “with not much to do”. 

The employee, who declined to be named, said business trips had been halted.
Employees at ZTE’s headquarters in the southern Chinese technology hub of Shenzhen were cagey about speaking to reporters after the ban was announced, but some voiced concerns.
One employee said this was the “the biggest challenge” for ZTE since he joined 10 years ago. Another said he hoped the Chinese government would help, saying he was confident Xi Jinping would “sort out this trouble”.
ZTE settled the sanction case with the U.S. government last March after admitting to illegally shipping products with U.S. technology to countries including Iran and paying a record fine of nearly $900 million.
Last month, the U.S. government reactivated the ban after ZTE violated terms of the settlement and made repeated false statements.

Death of a Gangster

Rogue Company ZTE is First Victim of the China-U.S. Trade War

By Raymond Zhong

ZTE's logo on a building in Shanghai. The firm said it had ceased “major operating activities” after the Trump administration banned it from using components made in the United States.

SHENZHEN, China — Not Apple. Not Huawei. 

The first casualty of the high-tech cold war between the United States and China might be the biggest electronics maker you’ve never heard of.
The Chinese firm ZTE said on Wednesday it had ceased “major operating activities” after the Trump administration banned the company last month from using components made in the United States. With manufacturing halted at the ZTE plant in Shenzhen, factory workers have been getting called in for training sessions every other day or so — a snooze, they say. 

The rest of the time, they loaf around in nearby dorms.
Trading in the company’s shares has been suspended for weeks. 

Staff members have been instructed, in new guidelines reviewed by The New York Times, to reassure anxious clients, while being sure to avoid discussing with them the American technology from which the firm is cut off for the next seven years.
One of China’s most internationally successful technology suppliers, with about $17 billion in annual revenue, ZTE is facing a death sentence. 

The Commerce Department has blocked its access to American-made components until 2025, the company failing to punish employees who violated trade controls against Iran and North Korea.
American microchips power ZTE’s wireless stations. 

American optical components go into its optical fiber networks. 

Google’s Android operating system runs its smartphones. 

ZTE’s moment of crisis, if it leads to the company’s collapse, could also show how the tech war might ripple around the world.
The company has 75,000 employees and does business in more than 160 countries. 

It is the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the United States. 

And its telecommunications gear supports the digital backbone of a great swath of the developing world.
The wireless carrier MTN, which serves 220 million people in 22 nations in Africa and the Middle East, said last week that it was assessing contingency plans, “given our exposure to ZTE in our networks.” 

The chief executive of the Norwegian carrier Telenor, which has large operations in Asia, said the company was “following the situation closely.”
Several employees described the situation inside ZTE on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals from their employer. 

A company spokeswoman declined to comment.
The United States has for years deemed ZTE and Huawei, its much larger rival in network gear, to be national security threats. 

Large American mobile carriers already shun the companies’ telecom equipment. 

The White House is mulling an executive order that would make it harder for government agencies to buy from them.
In response to the sanctions issued last month, ZTE said it had worked to improve its compliance practices. 

It has requested a stay on the export ban and has sent additional information to the Commerce Department in support of its argument.
Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment’s corporate predecessor was established in 1985, as a joint venture between a state-owned aerospace factory and two other firms. 

Within a few years, the company was producing equipment for phone operators in the Chinese countryside, before expanding into cities and then overseas.
“Zhongxing” means “China Prospers.” 

The company’s controlling shareholder is Shenzhen Zhongxingxin Telecommunications Equipment, which is nearly half-owned by two Chinese state entities. 

Several members of the firm’s board also have leadership roles at Zhongxingxin. 

ZTE says Zhongxingxin does not interfere in its business decisions. 

Working on a circuit board at a ZTE plant in Shenzhen, China.

The electronics maker released its first smartphone for the American market in 2011. 

Within two years, it was a top-five vendor in the United States, largely targeting people who wanted a phone but not a long contract with a cell carrier. 

Even in China, the company has not had great success selling smartphones.
“It’s extraordinarily impressive, what they’ve done in the U.S.,” said Avi Greengart, a consumer tech analyst with the research firm GlobalData. 

“So many Asian companies either said they would come to the U.S. and then had to pull back — like Xiaomi, like Huawei. Or they invested in the U.S. and weren’t able to make it work.”
ZTE’s secret, Mr. Greengart said, was a light touch. 

The company’s American managers have had significant leeway in tailoring their products to the local market. 

“That’s not the way many of its competitors work,” he said.
The company was, for instance, quick to spot that Americans were gravitating toward larger phones. It offered inexpensive devices with big screens — if not those with the highest resolution — and fingerprint readers at a time when such features were considered premium.
To build its brand, ZTE has sponsored several National Basketball Association teams. 

In February, the company and the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrated Chinese New Year at a game against the Brooklyn Nets. 

The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland was decorated with Chinese lanterns. 

An acrobat rode around the court on a unicycle at halftime.
In Africa, ZTE and Huawei have helped connect many of the continent’s fast-growing economies, often with the help of generous export financing from Chinese state banks. 

ZTE has laid thousands of miles of fiber optic cable in Ethiopia and it recently signed an agreement with MTN of South Africa to test fifth-generation wireless, or 5G.
Some of the company’s deals with cash-stricken governments have attracted accusations of corruption and overbilling. 

On the whole, though, ZTE is known in Africa for good service, said Dobek Pater, a telecom expert at the research firm Africa Analysis.
“The initial perception — of Chinese companies coming in and being very secretive and not wanting to have much to do with the locals — has changed over the past decade,” he said.
In Iran, it was secrecy of another kind that got ZTE into trouble.
The company used an elaborate system to sell American-made goods there, and then lied and deleted emails when the Commerce Department began to investigate. 

It even made plans to resume shipments to Iran while the investigation was ongoing, according to the Commerce Department.
“At home, they might have been doing some things not according to standards, and then, when it came time to internationalize, they might not have done so entirely properly,” said Gu Wenjun, chief analyst at ICwise, a semiconductor market research firm in Shanghai.
“For other companies thinking about how to follow the rules and manage internal risks, I think this is going to serve as a wakeup call,” Mr. Gu said.
Late last Friday, ZTE management sent an email to staff members updating them on the company’s efforts to reconcile with Washington.
“Even the longest road has an end,” the email concluded. 

“Even the longest night ends in day. Let us stay resolute and confident, and, full of hope, greet the coming dawn!”