The latest intensified restrictions on Huawei's supply indicates that the U.S. worries more about its tech advantage rather than cyber security which it claims to care, said an official at Huawei in an exclusive interview with CGTN.

After banning American companies from trading with Huawei last year and arresting the telecom giant's chief financial officer from Vancouver airport in 2018, the Trump administration issued new rules on May 15, making it mandatory to have a government license for selling Huawei semiconductors manufactured out of the country with U.S. technology, one of the many moves to block global chip suppliers to the world's second largest phone maker.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross accused the company of undermining previous national security-based restrictions, however, Andy Purdy, Chief Security Officer for Huawei Technologies America, who used to be a senior cyber security official of the U.S. government before joining Huawei, told CGTN that he believes the true concern comes from geopolitical strife between the world's two largest economics.

"U.S. is very concerned about the rise of China - economically and militarily," he said, noting the U.S. is concerned that China is competing in 5G.

"Because of that geopolitical situation, they're not even willing to talk with Huawei about how we can address the concerns and frankly, who we can make cyberspace safer for everyone," the chief further explained.

Read more: What's behind Trump's fear of Huawei?

The escalating attack on Huawei has been a double-edged sword. Huawei purchased 12 billion U.S. dollars' worth of semi-conductors from American companies and about 40,000 American jobs depend on the sale to Huawei, Purdy said, noting the new wider restriction will put these jobs at risk, when the pandemic has already dimmed the job market.

As for Huawei, the company began implementing "Plan B" a year ago to prepare for a supply chain disruption, including extra backup, prioritizing key products and pumping investment into Research and Development (R&D) to find alternatives, he said.

Read more: Huawei: We've never been dependent on any single country

The world's biggest telecom equipment maker has been generous in research and development. According to its 2019 earnings report, about half of its workforce is R&D employees and the R&D cost was about 131.7 billion yuan, accounting for 15.3 percent of the company's whole year revenue. 

Although the new restriction has a 120-day grace period, Huawei prepares to see a "substantial impact" from the new restriction.

Last year the telecom giant lost 12 billion U.S. dollars in revenue due to U.S. blacklisting, though the total revenue was still up 19.1 percent, and the company expects to see the scope of the new rule's impact in the next several months, according to Purdy.

"We're fighting for our survival," he said.

(Video editor: Liang Si)