China warns US over cutting access to tech for Huawei

China's foreign ministry on Thursday said it would oppose any attempts by the US government to "bully" Chinese enterprises, amid reports that US President Donald Trump may further block access for Shenzhen-based telecommunications giant Huawei to American technology.

Huawei is at the centre of tensions with Washington over China's technology ambitions and possible spying that helped to spark Trump's tariff war with Beijing in 2018.

Huawei, China's first global tech brand, denies US accusations the company is controlled by the ruling Communist Party or facilitates Chinese spying.

The company says it is owned by the 104,572 members of its 194,000-member workforce who are Chinese citizens.

"We are firmly opposed to the US using its national power to suppress specific Chinese enterprises on unfounded charges," said Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hua's comments echoed those made by the chairman of Huawei, Eric Xu, on Tuesday, saying he thought "the Chinese government will not just stand by and watch Huawei be slaughtered."

Hua also criticised the US amid a report that the Trump administration is also considering new export controls that could impede Chinese companies from buying certain materials and high-tech equipment from the United States.

She said: "Some US officials ignored the facts and maliciously distorted China's integrated military and civilian development policy in an attempt to use this as an excuse to impose a technical blockade on China and obstruct normal economic, trade, and technological cooperation between China and other countries."

Hua also defended the Chinese government after US congressman representative Jim Banks called on the State Department to look into the alleged disappearance of three Chinese citizen journalists who were covering the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Hua denied that the citizen journalists had disappeared and said the Chinese people "trusted their government".

Finally, Hua said that a shipment of tens of thousands of masks recalled by the Dutch government from hospitals after they were discovered to not meet quality standards was never meant to be used in medical settings.