China urged the U.S. to stop abusing the concept of national security and using state power to suppress enterprises operating legally in the country, said Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng on Thursday.

Gao's remarks came after the U.S. threatened to withdraw the licences of China Telecom, China Unicom and two CITIC subsidiaries to operate in the U.S.

The operators have been told to show within 30 days why their licences should not be revoked, according to a set of statements from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last Friday, April 24.

By doing this, the U.S. is discriminating against Chinese state-owned enterprises, added Gao.

He said, "China urges the U.S. to stop the misuse of the concept of national security and the use of national power to suppress the lawful operation of enterprises in the U.S. Do not treat enterprises differently because of different social systems and ownership."

"The U.S. should provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for businesses from various countries, including Chinese state-owned enterprises, to invest and operate in the country," Gao added. 

On April 9, the U.S. Department of Justice led a number of federal agencies, including the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Commerce, to accuse China Telecom's U.S. operations might allow Chinese government entities "to engage in malicious cyber activity enabling economic espionage and disruption and misrouting of U.S. communications," claiming that China Telecom's access to the U.S. telecommunications network may cause "significant and unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks."

The FCC was then required to revoke China Telecom's service license in the U.S.

This is not the first time that the United States has sent troubles to Chinese telecom operators. In May 2019, the FCC rejected China Mobile's provision of services in the U.S. on the grounds that the Chinese government might use telecommunications licenses to spy on the U.S. government. 

In September 2019, two U.S. senators asked the FCC to review the licenses of China Telecom and China Unicom to operate in the United States.

Responding to a statement by the U.S. Department of Commerce saying that it will tighten restrictions on technology exports to combat Chinese, Russian and Venezuelan military circumvention efforts, Gao said China consistently opposes America's actions of abusing export control measures, and impeding normal trading and cooperation between trading partners. It will cause more damages to related American enterprises.

Gao said that amid the global coronavirus epidemic, the governments have the responsibilities of creating convenient conditions for companies' normal trading and economic activities, instead of posing obstacles. 

Beijing hopes that Washington will stop its wrong actions, protect the interests of both countries' companies, and make pragmatic efforts to make the global economy get back to the track of healthy development.

(Cover image via VCG)

(Wang Hui also contributed to the story.)