China slams US for 'economic bullying' of Huawei, ZTE

China on Tuesday blasted as "ecomic bullying" a US proposal to block telecom carriers buying from Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE. US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Monday that proposed rules -- which also require carriers to remove any existing Huawei and ZTE equipment -- were part of an initiative to "safeguard nation's communications networks".

Firms accused of posing a security threat

two Chinese firms have been accused of posing a national security threat because of ir close ties to Beijing government, claims both have denied. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang slammed US proposal as an attempt to "oppress certain Chinese businesses with groundless accusations". Geng said at a regular news briefing Tuesday that move would ultimately hurt US businesses. " United States' ecomic bullying goes against market principles which US has always trumpeted," he said. FCC chairman Ajit Pai said new plan would bar communications companies from using any support y receive from government's Universal Service Fund to purchase equipment or services from companies "posing a national security threat", including Huawei and ZTE.

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Blacklisted Huawei

proposal -- to be voted on vember 19 -- marks latest effort by Washington to penalise Huawei, a major telecom infrastructure provider and smartphone maker that is alrey on a blacklist preventing it from access to certain US tech products and services. "When it comes to 5G and America's security, we can't afford to take a risk and hope for best," Pai said in a statement. "We need to make sure our networks won't harm our national security, threaten our ecomic security, or undermine our values." Pai said that as US upgres to fifth-generation wireless networks, "we cant igre risk that Chinese government will seek to exploit network vulnerabilities in order to eng in espion, insert malware and viruses, and orwise compromise our critical communications networks". Huawei says Washington has provided proof of any security risks posed by company.

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Effect on US telecom networks

rules would do little to improve information security and blocking access to Huawei gear would only harm US telecom networks, company said in a statement. "In 30 years of business, Huawei has never h a major security-related incident in 170 countries where we operate," statement said. "Banning specific vendors based on country origin will do thing to protect America's telecommunications networks." 

In May, Washington said it would blacklist Huawei from US market and from buying crucial US components, though it has twice extended company 90-day reprieves, latest coming in August. United States has expressed concern that Huawei equipment could contain security loopholes that allow China to spy on global communications traffic, and has pressured US allies to block use of Huawei equipment. 

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