UPDATE Negative feedback about the President’s executive order authorizing a block on Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei selling equipment in the U.S., is growing from the telecom sector and the Chinese government. China vowed Thursday to, “resolutely safeguard” Chinese companies after Washington also imposed export curbs on U.S. technology sales to the company.
“China has emphasized many times that the concept of national security should not be abused, and that it should not be used as a tool for trade protectionism,” Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng told reporters, according to Reuters.
Huawei, meanwhile, said in a statement that the order, “will only serve to limit the U.S. to inferior yet more expensive alternatives” and vowed to work with the U.S. to devise, “effective measures to ensure product security.”
A foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, criticized the moves as an, “abuse of export control measures. We urge the United States to stop the wrong approach. China will take further necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”
Lu gave no details, but analysts warned the export controls threaten to worsen a U.S.-Chinese conflict over technology and trade. The restriction is, “a grave escalation with China that at minimum plunges the prospect of continued trade negotiations into doubt,” said Eurasia Group analysts in a report. “Unless handled carefully, this situation is likely to place U.S. and Chinese companies at new risk,” the report said, according to AP.
May 20, 2019
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