Zhang Ming (Photographer: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg)
China could retaliate against the U.S. after President Donald Trump blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese ambassador to the European Union said.
Trump upped the ante in his trade dispute with China last week, announcing moves to curb Huawei's business that are starting to have ramifications for other companies around the world.
"This is wrong behavior, so there will be a necessary response," Zhang Ming, China's envoy to the EU, said in an interview in Brussels on Monday. "Chinese companies' legitimate rights and interests are being undermined, so the Chinese government will not sit idly by."
Trump on Friday signed an order that could restrict Huawei and fellow Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. from selling their equipment in the U.S. The Trump administration, which says Chinese companies are obliged to aid Beijing in espionage, also put Huawei on a blacklist that could forbid it from doing business with American companies.
Calling the moves "politically motivated" and an "abuse of export-control measures," Zhang said "the U.S. government is trying to bring down Huawei through administrative means."
'Wrong Path'
He added that China would "make the best possible effort to defend the legitimate right and interests of Chinese companies" and urged Washington "not to go further down the wrong path, to avoid further disturbances to China-U.S. relations."
