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China ready to fight ‘economic bully’ to the very end: Minister

This article is more than 12 months old

BEIJING China's Foreign Minister slammed US moves against telecom giant Huawei as "economic bullying", and warned that Beijing was ready to "fight to the very end".

The trade spat between the world's top two economies escalated after President Donald Trump issued orders last week that have prompted several foreign firms to distance themselves from Huawei.

"The US use of state power to arbitrarily exert pressure on a private Chinese company like Huawei is typical economic bullying," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday at a meeting in Kyrgyzstan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security group led by Beijing and Moscow.

Mr Trump's move effectively bans US companies from supplying Huawei and affiliates with critical components over activities the US says are contrary to its national security or foreign policy interests.

Japan's Panasonic announced yesterday that it was cutting back on business with Huawei in light of the US ban. A day earlier, mobile carriers in Japan and Britain said they would postpone the release of Huawei smartphones.

"Some people in the United States do not want China to enjoy the legitimate right to develop, and seek to impede its development process," Mr Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement issued late on Wednesday.

The two countries have yet to set a date to recommence trade negotiations after they resumed their tariffs battle earlier this month, with Mr Trump raising punitive duties on US$200 billion (S$276 billion) in Chinese goods and Beijing hiking those on US$60 billion in American products.

Mr Trump has accused China of reneging on its commitments in the trade negotiations. Beijing has countered that any deal needs to be balanced.

"It is impossible for us to sign or recognise an agreement that is unequal," Mr Wang said.

"If the United States is willing to negotiate on an equal footing, then on the Chinese side, the door is wide open. But if the United States opts for a policy of maximum pressure, then China will take them on and fight to the end," he said.

- REUTERS

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