Huawei Technologies Ltd continues to be at the centre of a worsening row between Washington and Beijing over technology and security concerns.
In the latest development, China has accused Washington of damaging global trade with sanctions that threaten to cripple tech giant Huawei.
The Chinese have stepped up their rhetoric against the US following the Commerce Department’s announcement on Monday blocking tech suppliers from using Huawei technology.
“The United States is violating international trade rules, and undermining the global industrial chain, supply chain, and value chain,” said a ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian.
“Beijing will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” added Zhao.
The Chinese foreign ministry has demanded that the Trump administration “stop suppressing Chinese companies.”
According to Huawei, sales from abroad has fallen 27% from a year earlier with the decline being linked to the on-going negative attention it has been receiving coupled with other factors.
Chinese officials accuse Washington of using national security as an excuse to stop a competitor to U.S. tech industries.
While U.S. officials say Huawei is a security risk and are lobbying European and other allies to avoid its technology as they upgrade to next-generation networks.
The conflict has spread to include Chinese-owned short video app TikTok and messaging service WeChat, which the U.S. government has declared security risks that might give personal information about American users to Chinese authorities.
The Trump administration is pressing TikTok owner to sell it and has ordered American companies to stop dealing with WeChat.
“The more hysterical the U.S. suppression of Huawei and other Chinese companies, the more it proves the success of these companies and the hypocrisy and arrogance of the United States,” said Zhao.
“The Chinese government will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”
According to market analyst firm, Canalys, Huawei has for the first time in the three months ending in June, passed Samsung and Apple to become the biggest-selling smartphone brand.
