China calls on the United States to immediately cease undue pressure on Chinese enterprises, including Huawei, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during an online briefing on Friday.
“I would like to emphasize once again that the Chinese government always encourages Chinese enterprises to carry out foreign economic cooperation in accordance with market principles and international rules, as well as comply with local laws (of the countries where they operate – ed.)”, – the diplomat said.
He emphasized that “the United States has for some time been abusing state power for any reason to put pressure on certain Chinese enterprises, that, without any justification, is immoral and unworthy”.
“Such economic harassment is a blatant denial of the principles of a market economy that the US has always praised, it seriously undermines the reputation and image of the United States, and ultimately will damage the interests of the American companies”, – he stressed.
According to him, “China calls on the US to stop providing unreasonable pressure on Chinese companies”.
Earlier, the US authorities brought new charges against the Chinese company Huawei and its fund director Meng Wanzhou in connection with the alleged “criminal seizure of property” by this company. The indictment notes that since 2000, Huawei has been engaged in “unlawful and deliberate appropriation of intellectual property” in the United States.
Since May last year, the Chinese Huawei has been in the “black list” of the United States, which blocks its path to the purchase of American components and technologies. However, since then, the United States has several times granted Huawei deferred sanctions, allowing it to purchase US-made products to maintain networks and update software for existing phones. The US Department of Commerce on Thursday delayed the introduction of restrictions on Huawei until April 1, 2020.
The United States accuses Huawei of collaborating with the military and intelligence of the PRC and possible surveillance of customers, and convinces a number of countries not to use the infrastructure and equipment of Huawei when switching to the 5G cellular standard. The Chinese company claims that the allegations are unfounded, politically motivated and violate the principles of market competition.