My comment:
(a) On Mar 7, 2017 US announced the settlement with ZTE in a criminal proceeding at United States District Court for the District of Northern Texas (located at Dallas). At the time, news reports in Chinese and English said ZTE would be fined $1.2 billion. Yesterday (Mar 22) the court approved the settlement/guilty plea. (A court, both criminal and civil, is not bound by recommendation among parties -- and may order a trial.)
(2) The (Chinese-language) Reuters report above says "近9亿美元." Why the discrepancy?
(a) The above Chinese Reuters report is an abbreviated translation of the following:
China's ZTE Corp Pleads Guilty in US court in Sanctions Case. Reuters, Mar 22, 2017 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-zte-idUSKBN16T33Y
("In addition to $892 million it agreed to pay in fines and penalties, an additional penalty of $300 million could be imposed if it does not comply with its agreement with the Commerce Department over the next seven years")
This paragraph was not translated.
(b) Shannon Pettypiece and Andrew Mayeda, Record US Plea Deal With Chinese Firm Comes With Big Hitch. Bloomberg Politics, Mar 7, 2017 https://www.bloomberg.com/politi ... -case-for-1-billion
("ZTE Corp has agreed to pay as much as $1.2 billion for violating US laws restricting the sale of American technology to Iran * * * The agreement with the U.S. government calls for the company to pay $892 million in fines and forfeitures and be subject to an additional $300 million in penalties if it violates the terms of the settlement")
So there is no discrepancy. There is no need to read the rest of either English-language report.