That's not what I said. ZTE should not be allowed to fail; should be forced to succeed by taking the longer, harder route of domestic development rather than the easier route of dependence on foreign supply. Profits as a non-issue, ZTE should never again be given the option to place itself on American technology; it should be forced to grind on, developing and perfecting domestic capabilities no matter how difficult it is and no matter how inferior the products may be at first. China has the resources to support this development; ZTE must have the will.
Quite frankly, the example is already set no matter what becomes of ZTE. In 1996, the US awoke China's military determination by sailing an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait; China swore to lift itself from weakness and hence diligently pursued military development. Today, any foreign carrier trying to sail through the Straits uninvited is on some masochistic suicide mission. This is the technological equivalent of that moment; every Chinese company now sees the urgent need to breaking free from the shackles of American technological dependence. No amount of expense or challenge can daunt China's pursuit of it now.
You are essentially saying the same thing by saying that it has to survive by developing inferior products. No enterprise will survive long term by continuously producing inferior product. ZTE long term viability is also not served by being under the control of US compliance officers, US controlled management and be required to purchase US parts. The employees are better served by allowing a sanction free rival to take over their core asset, which are the talent and knowhow, and allow them to apply lessons learn from their mistaken reliance on US parts.
Read the article which states:
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to confirm the deal in a tweet late on Friday. “I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine.”
After ZTE makes a series of changes it would now be allowed to resume business with U.S. companies, including chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.
The deal, earlier communicated to officials on Capitol Hill by the Commerce Department, requires ZTE to pay a substantial fine, place U.S. compliance officers at the company and change its management team, the aide said.