Earlier this year, after the ban on Huawei by the United States, FedEx re-routed Huawei packages, which the courier company claimed to be an “operational error”. However, the Chinese authority suspected that and launched an investigation into the matter.
Now, as per the reports coming from the local media, Chinese state departments have found that FedEx’s previous statement on the incident was inconsistent with the facts but didn’t elaborate on the matter.
However, the report further reveals that the regulators found that FedEx had held back more than 100 Huawei-related shipments. This came to light as a result of an investigation by the Chinese authority. According to Xinhua, the relevant state departments will uphold the principles of “comprehensiveness, objectivity, and fairness and continue to carry out an in-depth investigation in accordance with the laws.”
FedEx released a statement in regards to the new development and said: “We have and will continue to fully cooperate with the Chinese authorities on the investigation and we are committed to full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. These shipments in question were handled while we were trying to comply with the US Department of Commerce order, which was unclear and resulted in considerable complexity for our operations.”
This issue has now become significant at a time when two of the world’s biggest economies are engaged in a trade war, which escalated when the US banned Chinese giant Huawei claiming national security without providing any proof for the claim.
A couple of months ago, in May, Huawei accused FedEx of diverting packages to the US without authorization, including two that the Chinese company had sent from Japan to its offices on the mainland. It also said FedEx had attempted to divert two more packages to the US that were sent from Vietnam and destined for the Chinese firm’s offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The incidents prompted Huawei to seek a review of its logistics and document delivery support requirements. At that time, FedEx denied the incident but the company later apologized for the unauthorized re-routing of packages, adding that “there were no external parties” involved in the erroneous shipment to the US.
A couple of days later, in early June 2019, China announced that it has launched an investigation into the incident. Just weeks after that, FedEx acknowledged another missed delivery due to an “operational error” from the UK to the US.
After these issues with FedEx, Chinese giant Huawei entered into a strategic alliance with China’s state-owned logistics giant China Post. Last month, FedEx sued the U.S. government claiming that it should not be held liable in case the company inadvertently shipped products that violated a Trump admin’s ban on exports to Chinese companies.
