Huawei: China will hit back at new US trade restrictions

03/31/2020

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Bradford Betz | Fox News

Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Tuesday warned the U.S. that renewing trade restrictions on the company could provoke a backlash from Beijing that could potentially damage the global industry.

Huawei Technologies Ltd., China’s first global tech brand, is at the center of tensions with Washington over China’s technology ambitions and possible spying that set off President Trump’s tariff war with Beijing in 2018.

The company has denied U.S. accusations that it is controlled by the ruling Communist Party or facilitates Chinese spying. Chinese officials, meanwhile, have accused the Trump administration of abusing national security claims to restrain a rival to U.S. tech companies.

Speaking at a recent news conference in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, the company’s chairman Eric Xu said Beijing will not just stand by and watch Huawei be “slaughtered.”

“If the Chinese government followed through with countermeasures, the impact on the global industry would be astonishing,” Xu said. “It’s not only going to be one company, Huawei, that could be destroyed.”

Xu couldn’t confirm reports that Trump might extend controls to block access to foreign-made products containing U.S. technology, but warned that such measures “will be destructive to the global technology ecosystem.”

 

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