China accuses Britain of supporting Washington hurt Huawei.

China accuses Britain of supporting Washington hurt Huawei. A government spokeswoman said Beijing will protect Chinese companies but gave no indication of possible retaliation.

15 th July 2020 China’s government accused Britain on Wednesday of colluding with Washington to hurt Chinese companies after tech giant Huawei was blocked from working on a next-generation mobile phone network.

The British government announced Tuesday that Huawei Technologies Ltd. would be excluded from work on the network because US sanctions made it impossible to ensure the safety of Chinese-supplied equipment.

“Without any concrete evidence, the United Kingdom took unfounded risks as an excuse and cooperated with the United States to discriminate, suppress and exclude Chinese companies,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying.

Washington accuses Huawei of being a security risk, which the company denies. The Trump administration is lobbying European and other allies to shun Huawei, the biggest maker of switching equipment for phone and internet companies, as they upgrade their telecom networks.

Washington last year imposed restrictions on Huawei’s access to American components and other technology.

In May, the Trump administration tightened controls by blocking non-U.S. companies from using American technology to produce processor chips and other components for Huawei without Washington’s approval.

Chinese officials accuse Washington of misusing national security concerns to block a rising competitor to U.S. tech suppliers.

“China will fully and seriously evaluate this incident and take all measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” Hua said.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said Washington told other governments to avoid Huawei “if they want to do business with us.”

“We convinced many countries — many countries — and I did this myself, for the most part, not to use Huawei because we think it’s an unsafe security risk,” Trump said in Washington.

“I talked many countries out of using it. If they want to do business with us, they can’t use it.” Huawei is at the center of U.S.-Chinese conflicts over technology development and possible spying.

The company’s chief financial officer is under house arrest in Canada and fighting extradition to the United States to face charges related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran.

Hua said Beijing would warn Chinese companies “to attach great importance to the increasing political security risks” they face in Britain. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government agreed in January to allow Huawei to supply some equipment for the 5G network while it would be barred from providing core components.

London reversed course after the Trump administration threatened to end an intelligence-sharing agreement due to concern that Huawei’s involvement might allow Beijing to infiltrate British networks, HT reported.