Beijing urges Washington to stop the 'unreasonable crackdown' on Chinese companies after US charges tech giant Huawei and its top executive for 'stealing technology and violating sanctions on Iran'
- Tech giant Huawei is charged with violating US sanctions, officials said Monday
- It is also accused of stealing a robot's arm and other technology from T-Mobile
- Beijing says it will 'firmly defend' the lawful rights and interests of Chinese firms
- It claims US is trying to 'strangle fair and just operations' for political reasons
- Meng Wanzhou was arrested on Dec 1 over alleged violations of Iran sanctions
China's government called on Washington on Tuesday to 'stop the unreasonable crackdown' on Huawei following the tech giant's indictment in the US on charges of stealing technology and violating sanctions on Iran.
Beijing will 'firmly defend' its companies, the foreign ministry said in a statement read on state-run TV news. It gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate for the charges against Huawei, China's first global tech brand and the biggest maker of network switching gear used by phone and internet companies.
Huawei Technologies Ltd. denied committing any of the violations cited in Monday's indictment, the most serious escalation yet of pressure on Huawei, which has spent a decade battling US accusations it is a front for Chinese spying and a security risk.
Prosecutors are seeking to extradite the company's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou (pictured in December), and allege she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei's business dealings in Iran. She was arrested on December 1 in Vancouver
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The foreign ministry complained Washington has 'mobilised state power' to hurt Chinese companies 'in an attempt to strangle fair and just operations' for political reasons.
'We strongly urge the United States to stop the unreasonable crackdown on Chinese companies including Huawei,' the ministry statement said. It said Beijing will defend the 'lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies' but gave no details.
The charges unsealed Monday accused Huawei of trying to take a piece of a robot and steal other technology from a T-Mobile lab that was used to test smartphones.
Huawei also is charged with using a Hong Kong front company, Skycom, to trade with Iran in violation of US trade controls. Prosecuteors allege the company's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, lied to banks about those dealings.
Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker (centre) unsealed criminal charges Monday against Chinese tech giant Huawei, two of its subsidiaries and a top executive, who are accused of misleading banks about the company's business and violating US sanctions
A federal indictment accuses Huawei of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile (file photo pictured in 2015) in the form of a robot designed to automatically test phones for problems
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested Dec 1 in Vancouver on US charges related to Iran, a development that set off a political firestorm between China and Canada.
'The company denies that it or its subsidiary or affiliate have committed any of the asserted violations of US law set forth in each of the indictments,' a Huawei statement said.
Huawei is 'not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng, and believes the US courts will ultimately reach the same conclusion,' it said.
There was no allegation Huawei was working at the Chinese government's direction. The US government previously has accused Beijing of involvement in cyberspying and theft of industrial secrets. It has charged several Chinese hackers and intelligence officials.
Huawei said US prosecutors rejected a request to discuss the investigation following Meng's arrest. It also noted the allegations in the trade secrets charge were the subject of a US civil lawsuit that already has been settled.
Meng is out on bail in Vancouver and is due in court Tuesday as she awaits extradition proceedings. Her case has set off diplomatic spats between the United States, China and Canada.
China has called on the United States to 'stop the unreasonable crackdown' on Huawei following the tech giant's indictment on charges of stealing technology, violating trade sanctions and lying to banks
The latest charges could dim prospects for US-Chinese trade talks due to start Wednesday in Washington.
President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed Dec 1 to put off any further sanctions against each other's exports while they negotiated. A breakdown in negotiations would likely lead to higher tariffs, a prospect that has rattled financial markets for months.
While US authorities stress that courts are independent, 'ordinary Chinese people all believe it is a deliberate crackdown on Huawei,' said Lu Feng, an economist at Peking University.
'From the US perspective, it is a law enforcement issue, but from China's viewpoint, it has a link to Chinese-US trade relations,' said Lu. 'The difference in understanding will bring about complicated problems.'
The Justice Department officials provided details from a 10-count grand jury indictment in Seattle, and a separate 13-count case from prosecutors in New York.
The Seattle charges allege that beginning in 2012, Huawei plotted to steal information about T-Mobile's robot, known as 'Tappy.' It says Huawei engineers secretly took photos of the robot, measured it and tried to steal part of it from T-Mobile's lab, according to prosecutors. T-Mobile declined to comment.
