China denounces US 'rumors' about Huawei ties to Beijing
China on Friday denounced U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for fabricating rumors after he said the chief executive of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was lying about his company's ties to the Beijing government. The United States placed Huawei on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker and escalating a trade battle between the world's two biggest economies. Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government, military or intelligence services.
Pompeo, speaking on Thursday, also dismissed Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei's assertions that his company would never share user secrets, and said he believed more American companies would cut ties with the tech giant.
"Recently, some U.S. politicians have continually fabricated rumors about Huawei but have never produced the clear evidence that countries have requested," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, when asked about Pompeo's remarks. The United States has been rallying its allies to persuade them not to use Huawei for their 5G networks, citing security concerns. Lu said the U.S. government was provoking suspicion in the U.S. public to confuse and instigate opposition.
"Domestically in the United States there are more and more doubts about the trade war the U.S. side has provoked with China, the market turmoil cause by the technology war and blocked industrial cooperation," he added. U.S. politicians continue to "fabricate lies to try to mislead the American people, and now they are trying to incite ideological opposition". U.S. President Donald Trump also said on Thursday that U.S. complaints against Huawei might be resolved within the framework of a U.S.-China trade deal, while at the same time calling the Chinese telecommunications giant "very dangerous".
Lu said he didn't know what Trump was talking about. "Frankly, I'm actually not sure what the specific meaning of the U.S. leader, the U.S. side, saying this is," he said, adding that if reporters were interested they should ask the United States to clarify. Lu reiterated that the United States should stop using its national power to suppress and smear other countries' companies, adding that China wanted to resolve differences between the two countries through friendly dialogue and consultation.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said on Thursday U.S. complaints against Huawei Technologies Co Ltd might be resolved within the framework of a U.S.China trade deal, while at the same time calling the Chinese telecommunications giant "very dangerous." Washington last week effectively banned U.S. firms from doing business with Huawei, the world's largest telecoms network gear maker, citing national security concerns.
"You look at what they've done from a security standpoint, from a military standpoint, it's very dangerous," Trump said in remarks at the White House. "If we made a deal, I could imagine Huawei being possibly included in some form or some part of it." Trump predicted a swift end to the trade war with China, although no high-level talks have been scheduled between the two countries since the last round of negotiations ended in Washington two weeks ago.
Shares of S&P technology and industrial companies, bellwethers of trade sentiment, fell more than 2% on Thursday as the market slumped in a sign the conflict was being seen as a battle not just over trade but also about who controls global technology.
Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the chief executive of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, of lying about his company's lack of ties to the Beijing government, which he said represented a security risk.
"The company is deeply tied not only to China but to the Chinese Communist Party. And that connectivity, the existence of those connections puts American information that crosses those networks at risk," he said. Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government, military or intelligence services.
Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is Ren's daughter, was arrested in Canada in December and faces extradition to the United States on charges she conspired to defraud global banks about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran. She and the company deny the charges.