Asus won’t say how it escaped the US router ban

华硕拒绝透露其如何规避美国路由器禁令

This spring, the United States banned all future foreign-made consumer routers — effectively all future routers — unless their makers could 1) convince the US government that they weren’t a national security threat, and 2) submit “a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing in the United States.”

今年春天，美国禁止了所有未来在外国制造的消费级路由器（实际上涵盖了所有未来的路由器），除非制造商能够：1）说服美国政府其产品不构成国家安全威胁；2）提交一份“详细且有时限的计划，以在美国建立或扩大生产”。

As of September 9th, Asus now has an exemption from the ban, just in time to bring its first early Wi-Fi 8 routers here. But Asus has not publicly announced any plan to bring manufacturing to the US. It would not even confirm to The Verge whether it had submitted a US manufacturing plan.

截至9月9日，华硕已获得该禁令的豁免权，正好赶上将其首批早期 Wi-Fi 8 路由器引入美国市场。但华硕尚未公开宣布任何将生产线迁至美国的计划。面对 The Verge 的询问，华硕甚至拒绝确认其是否提交过美国本土制造计划。

Initially, Asus spokesperson JJ Guerrero forwarded the following statement to The Verge: “ASUS has submitted the required plan to the FCC and is working with trusted manufacturing partners to support our future networking product portfolio in the U.S.”

起初，华硕发言人 JJ Guerrero 向 The Verge 转达了以下声明：“华硕已向美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）提交了所需计划，并正与值得信赖的制造合作伙伴合作，以支持我们未来在美国的网络产品组合。”

But when we repeatedly asked Asus to clarify whether that meant it had submitted a plan to manufacture equipment in the United States — as opposed to equipment that’s just for the United States — the company did not answer. We’ve been waiting over 12 days without clarification.

但当我们反复要求华硕澄清这是否意味着它提交了在美国本土制造设备的计划（而非仅仅是针对美国市场的设备）时，该公司并未作答。我们已经等待了超过 12 天，仍未得到任何解释。

The US router ban is not about security, despite the government’s claims. The FCC doesn’t ask companies a single question about security to get an exemption from the ban; it’s more about where routers are made. Nor is the FCC carefully testing which products are safe and which might have security holes — it has granted Asus a blanket exemption on all future routers through March 2028.

尽管政府声称美国路由器禁令与安全有关，但事实并非如此。FCC 在授予禁令豁免时，根本不会向公司询问任何关于安全的问题；这更多是关于路由器的产地问题。FCC 也并未仔细测试哪些产品安全、哪些产品可能存在安全漏洞——它已经授予华硕一项涵盖所有未来路由器的全面豁免，有效期至 2028 年 3 月。

Few consumer products are made in the United States these days for all kinds of economic reasons. Even a copy of the board game Monopoly is now difficult to manufacture domestically. It wouldn’t be surprising if Asus wants to avoid building factories here.

由于各种经济原因，如今很少有消费品在美国制造。即便是《大富翁》棋盘游戏，现在也很难在美国本土生产。如果华硕想要避免在这里建厂，这并不令人意外。

But if the US router ban is not about US manufacturing, and it’s not about security, what is it actually about? Why did the Trump administration suddenly give Asus a blanket exemption, and why did it give Netgear a similar blanket exemption back in April?

但如果美国路由器禁令既不是为了美国制造，也不是为了安全，那它到底是为了什么？为什么特朗普政府突然给予华硕全面豁免，又为何在四月份给予网件（Netgear）类似的全面豁免？

The FCC did not respond to a request for comment then, and it has not responded to our fact-check request for this story. Perhaps it’s simply satisfied that these companies aren’t making them in China; both Asus and Netgear claim they’re manufacturing in countries that are considered US allies, and Netgear additionally says that “we no longer procure internet-connected components from manufacturers in China, or entities owned or controlled by China.”

FCC 当时未回应置评请求，也未回应我们针对本文的事实核查请求。也许他们只是满足于这些公司不再在中国生产；华硕和网件都声称它们是在被视为美国盟友的国家进行生产，网件还补充说：“我们不再从中国的制造商或由中国拥有或控制的实体采购互联网连接组件。”

Publicly, both Asus and Netgear are using the US government’s exemptions as marketing tools. In April, Netgear even emailed existing customers to share the news that Netgear is a “trusted consumer router company” now. Asus now claims it passed a “rigorous cybersecurity review” and is now certified as a “Trusted Networking Equipment Brand” and listed as a “Trusted Consumer Router Vendor,” as if those were official terms.

在公开场合，华硕和网件都在利用美国政府的豁免作为营销工具。四月份，网件甚至通过电子邮件告知现有客户，称网件现在是一家“值得信赖的消费级路由器公司”。华硕现在则声称其通过了“严格的网络安全审查”，并被认证为“值得信赖的网络设备品牌”，还被列为“值得信赖的消费级路由器供应商”，仿佛这些是官方术语一样。

But search results for “Trusted Networking Equipment Brand” and “Trusted Consumer Router Vendor” only point back to Asus’s own claims — not the federal government.

然而，搜索“值得信赖的网络设备品牌”和“值得信赖的消费级路由器供应商”的结果，只会指向华硕自己的声明，而非联邦政府的官方认证。