ZTE (Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited) is a respected global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions – GSM, CDMA, CDMA2000, W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, IMS, NGN, PSTN, SDH, ADSL, IPTV.

ZTE was established in 1985 and its shares are publicly traded on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges. ZTE is the 2nd telecommunications enterprise in China after Huawei Technologies.

ZTE corporate headquarters are located in Nanshan Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, with domestic R&D centers operating in LianTang/Shenzhen, Shanghai (GSM), Nanjing, Xi’an, Chongqing, Chengdu and Beijing (total fourteen worldwide R&D facilities). ZTE University is located in Damaisa, approximately 1.5 hours east of the ZTE headquarters. ZTE provides training for both staff and clients from around the world.

ZTE has over 39,000 employees; approximately 20,000 of these employees are inside China. ZTE established a United States presence in 1998. The US headquarters is in Dallas, Texas. It is also in many other countries.

ZTE is not an Amsterdam Holdings or a fly-by-night corner sari-sari store operation.

As far as ZTE is concerned, the book on the National Broadband deal has already been closed. The Philippines contracted for it and, eventually, Gloria Arroyo cancelled the deal. End of story, as far as ZTE is concerned.

According to a ZTE press release: "We have no doubt that any independent review panel – not the one convened by losing NBN proponent Mr. Jose de Venecia III – can cut through the speculations, half-truths and disinformation.

"By simply looking at the comprehensive, itemized and priced bill of deliverables contained in ZTE’s NBN bid, accusations that the project proposal was overpriced would crumble to pieces. Any independent and unbiased panel would see the ZTE proposal for what it is: A multi-million dollar project showcasing ZTE’s state-of-the art technologies backed by hundreds of international patents; a project that would have been made very affordable to the Philippines through a government-to-government loan facility with a low interest rate of three percent and a drawn out repayment period of 20 years, marked by a grace period of five years.

"Our unsullied track record speaks for itself: We have been serving more than 500 telecommunication operators in over 120 countries. We have completed and are in the process of completing billions of dollars worth of telecommunication projects worldwide.

"In all of these, our only misgiving – aside from the undeserved attacks on ZTE – is that the national broadband network project of the Philippine government, which would have linked all government agencies for the better provision of public service to all Filipinos, had to be sacrificed before the altar of political intrigue."

So, why don’t we put together an independent review panel that will look at the specifications of the ZTE bid, which independent body will then give its opinion – based solely on the equipment and work involved – on whether or not there was an overprice. If there was none – or nothing in the vicinity of the millions of dollars that have been bandied about, it becomes clear that we have been listening to idle and silly, pointless talk that most of the Pinoys have swallowed hook, line and sinker.

The other sad part of this episode is that last year, for the first time ever, China was our biggest trading partner. It actually surpassed the United States as a Philippine trading partner. The nice thing for us is that the Philippines enjoyed a favorable trade balance of around $150 million US dollars in its bilateral dealings with China.

Will all of this end with the sordidness with which we have infested the ZTE deal?

Suddenly our relations with China, which had been excellent all along, may turn sour. Already, there is a call to review everything that we are doing with the Chinese. Almost every project undertaken by Chinese companies has been put under suspicion, including agricultural projects, railway projects, power plant projects and an elevated highway project in Metro Manila.

Suddenly, the bias that our colonizers showed against the Chinese and all Asians including Filipinos is being repeated and the sad part about this is that it is now the Filipinos who are acting with the jaundiced eyes of our colonizers.

Why can we not see that it is not ZTE that has done anything wrong – if, in fact, anything wrong had even happened – but the Filipino side? So, why should the Chinese – as trading and commerce partners – be made to suffer?

The way that we resolve this "thing" (for lack of a more exact word) will also be a signal to the rest of the world as to whether our country is one which is worth investing in.

Sadly for us, besides being in China and the Philippines, ZTE also operates in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Brazil, Romania, Pakistan, Nepal, Iran, India, Libya, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, U.S., UK, Algeria, Tunisia, Russia, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Canada and Sri Lanka.

In all of these places, ZTE has a solid reputation. Even in the countries where ZTE does not operate, its quality products give the company a good name.

The way that the world will look at what happened to ZTE in the Philippines may favor ZTE and dishonor the Philippines. After all, in many parts of the world, they are more acquainted with the ZTE than the RP.