China moves to protect Huawei from U.S
China has kicked against recent plan by the United States to move against telecommunication giant, Huawei.
China’s commerce ministry said it is firmly opposed to the latest rules by the United States against Huawei and will take all necessary measures to safeguard Chinese firms rights and interests.
The ministry said in a statement that it urges the United States to immediately stop the wrong actions.
The Trump administration on Friday moved to block global chip supplies to blacklisted telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies, spurring fears of Chinese retaliation and hammering shares of U.S. producers of chipmaking equipment.
A new rule, unveiled by the Commerce Department expands U.S. authority to require licenses for sales to Huawei of semiconductors made abroad with U.S. technology, vastly expanding its reach to halt exports to the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker.
“This action puts America first, American companies first, and American national security first,” a senior Commerce Department official told reporters in a telephone briefing on Friday.
Huawei, the world’s top telecoms equipment maker, did not respond to a request for comment.
News of the move against the firm hit European stocks as traders sold into the day’s gains, while shares of chip equipment makers such as Lam Research and KLA Corp closed down 6.4% and 4.8%, respectively, in U.S. trading.
The reaction from China was swift, with a report by China’s Global Times saying Beijing was ready to put U.S. companies on an “unreliable entity list,” as part of countermeasures in response to the new limits on Huawei.
The measures include launching investigations and imposing restrictions on U.S. companies such as Apple Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Qualcomm Inc, as well as suspending purchases of Boeing Co airplanes, the report said here citing a source.
By Reuters
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