Chinese Foreign Ministry slams U.S. for banning carriers from buying Huawei, ZTE equipment
CGTN

Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Geng Shuang responded to the issue that U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to bar U.S. telecom companies from using federal funds to buy products from Huawei and ZTE due to the so-called "threats to national security" at a regular press conference on Monday.

"The U.S. has a habit of abusing state power to suppress specific countries and companies on trumped-up charges without providing any evidence. It once brought down Alstom and now wants to crush Chinese companies." Geng said.

"Such economic bullying behavior by the U.S. side is a blatant denial of the principles of the market economy that the U.S. has always advocated," he said.

Banning carriers from buying Huawei, ZTE equipment will not really improve U.S. cybersecurity, and will have a serious impact on network services in rural and under-developed areas of the U.S., Geng said adding that "relevant U.S. agencies are fully aware of this. 

File photo via VCG

File photo via VCG

At the same time, Geng doubted about the real intention behind U.S. policymakers to repeatedly suppressing foreign companies on trumped-up charges, even sacrifice the interests of the U.S. company and the people to issue those "protecting U.S. interests" policies.

Again, Geng urged the U.S. side to stop misuse of national security, stop deliberate smear and accusation against China and stop unreasonably suppressing Chinese companies.

In addition to this, Geng also said the U.S. should provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese enterprises to conduct normal business activities in the United States.

"I hereby warn some people in the U.S., you could only imprison yourself if you locked all the doors because of the so-called 'security' reason," Geng added. 

People walk past a Huawei store in Beijing, December 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

People walk past a Huawei store in Beijing, December 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

On November 22, Chinese telecom giant Huawei said that the U.S. government's order to bar U.S. telecom companies from using federal funds to buy products from Huawei is "unlawful."

The response came after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) listed Huawei and its industry peer ZTE as so-called "threats to national security" and thus barred companies from using money from its Universal Service Fund, which is 8.5 billion U.S. dollars every year, to purchase technology from the two Chinese companies.

Read more:

Huawei says U.S. ban to buy its products with federal funds 'unlawful'