China slams Washington for ‘abusing concept of national security’ in crusade against Huawei

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has condemned VP Mike Pence’s calls for further international cooperation in US ongoing crusade against tech giant Huawei.

Beijing sharply criticized Washington after Pence called on “Iceland and other freedom-loving nations to find alternatives to essentially China’s state-based 5G operation” in a meeting with Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.

“This is a typical hegemonism and the politicization of economic and trade issues,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, AP reports.

American leaders are making “irresponsible remarks” and continue “abusing the concept of national security” to target Chinese companies, Geng maintained.

Washington has been pressuring its allies to stop business with the Chinese firm Huawei – the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer – for quite a while already.

The Trump administration claims that the company is in cahoots with the Chinese government and represents a security threat, but many are unconvinced. Germany, for example, argues there is no evidence of suspicious behavior from Huawei, and the company has expressed readiness to share its source code so that each government can “validate by themselves.”

This week Poland and the US signed a joint agreement to “ensure only trusted and reliable suppliers participate in networks,” – a deal that may take a swipe at Huawei. The move comes as Warsaw tries to boost its ties with Washington.

Huawei, for its part, has accused the US of “using every tool at its disposal – including both judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means – to disrupt the normal business operations of Huawei and its partners.”

The US has further launched cyber attacks against company systems and attempted to impersonate or recruit employees for spying purposes, Huawei claimed in a statement released on Tuesday.

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