FedEx getting itself in a fix over Huawei: China Daily editorial

As the world's largest express transportation company, FedEx claims that it holds itself to a very high standard of service. But its track record over the past month in relation to serving Chinese telecom giant Huawei would suggest not.

Last month, because of what it claimed was "inadvertent misrouting", FedEx delivered Huawei parcels to the wrong address, amid escalating trade frictions between China and the United States, sparking a regulatory investigation by the Chinese government "on suspicion of undermining the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese clients".

FedEx has again found itself caught in the vortex of controversy over the weekend — this time when it returned a US-bound package containing a Huawei smartphone, a P30 Pro, to the shipper at PCMag's United Kingdom office, who called it "totally ridiculous".

FedEx on Sunday blamed "operational error" for the shipping snafu. But that has failed to restore the confidence of Chinese customers in the service it provides. Huawei already said it was reviewing its relationship with FedEx soon after the mishandling of its packages last month.

Business credibility once lost is hard to regain.

Yes, Huawei is undergoing a critical moment after the US administration put it on a blacklist over national security concerns, basically cutting it off from all US technologies and hardware. But that does not in any sense constitute any legal reason for FedEx not to serve Huawei properly. This is all about the spirit of contract, which any business has to rely on if it wants to succeed.

Even FedEx admits that despite the Sino-US trade fight, it can "accept and transport all Huawei products except for any shipments to listed Huawei entities on the US Entity List"; not to mention a 90-day grace period that has been granted by Washington.

FedEx likes to say that it has played a due part in China's rise ever since it entered the Chinese market in 1984, and it values its business here and its relationship with Huawei and other Chinese customers. And given the huge market potential that China provides that is no doubt true — "no markets will be able to absorb more than a fraction of what China produces", as a top FedEx manager once said.

Before the results of the official investigation come out, we tend to believe the recent incidents related to Huawei may be just an example of lapse in management, or even extreme risk avoidance by individual employees, rather than the company risking its business future by playing the role of a willing pawn for some politicians. But the company must take action to make sure similar mistakes do not happen again.

As the saying ought to go in this instance, cheat me once, shame on me. Cheat me twice, shame on you.