BEIJING (AP) — China has called on Washington to avoid damaging business confidence following a report U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese tech giant Huawei violated sanctions on Iran.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said Thursday that China opposes any country imposing unilateral sanctions based on its own law.

Asked about a report by the The Wall Street Journal that Huawei was under investigation, Hua said, "We hope the U.S. will refrain from taking actions that could further undermine investor confidence in the U.S. business environment and harm its domestic economy and normal, open, transparent and win-win international trade."

In a separate case, Washington barred ZTE Corp., another Chinese tech company, from exporting U.S. technology in a case over exports to Iran and North Korea. ZTE warned that might threaten its survival.