China protests U.S. 'long-arm jurisdiction'

World
Europe

01:45

As the China-U.S. trade conflict goes on, there is speculation that more Chinese companies may be shut out of the United States.

China has repeatedly sharply slammed the Americans for engaging "long-arm jurisdiction."

Chinese telecom giant Huawei was put on the U.S. "entity list" last week, which will put its business in America in serious jeopardy.

Now more than 10 other Chinese companies, including the world's top surveillance camera makers Hikvison and Dahua, might be facing the same sanctions.

China's foreign ministry reiterated its criticism of such practices on Friday, citing historical cases to aid its case.

"In fact, whether in the Alstom incident or the Prism incident, you should see that the so-called ideological convergence did not prevent the U.S. government from taking improper measures against its allies," said Lu Kang, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.

The cases Lu referred to were incidents that the ministry has repeatedly called out as "long-arm jurisdiction." The ministry has pointed out multiple times since the start of 2019 that sanctioning Chinese companies based on U.S. domestic laws and needs, is simply not constructive. The Chinese companies affected are facing significant challenges.

Huawei has called the sanctions "unreasonable restrictions." The company's CFO Meng Wanzhou was abruptly detained in Canada last December and is still fighting extradition to the U.S. But China remains confident. "The Chinese government has confidence in its ability to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese companies," said Gao Feng, commerce ministry spokesperson.

"The best response to the U.S. bullying behavior is for Chinese companies to continue to develop. The Chinese government will continue to strengthen efforts to deepen reform, broaden opening up and build a fairer and stable business environment," he continued.

That stance is in line with what China has often suggested – staying focused on one's own business and powering ahead.