China reacts to US support for Taiwan, app ban

China on Wednesday accused Washington of misusing national security as an excuse to hurt commercial competitors after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order banning transactions with payment services Alipay and WeChat Pay and six other apps.

Tuesday's order escalated a conflict with Beijing over technology, security and spying accusations that has plunged U.S.-Chinese relations to their lowest level in decades.

It followed confusion in financial markets after the New York Stock Exchange announced last week it would remove three Chinese phone companies and then withdrew that plan Monday.

“This is another example of the U.S.’s bullying, arbitrary and hegemonic behavior,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying.

Hua also said China strongly opposed the U.S.-Taiwan political-military dialogue scheduled for Wednesday U.S. time.

She said Taiwan was the most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations and implored the U.S. to end all official exchanges and military ties with the island.

(IMAGE CREDITS:Twitter/@SpokespersonCHN)