China blasts the United States for its fresh accusations against Huawei, saying Washington’s claims targeting the telecommunications giant lack all factual proof.
“They basically say the same thing, whenever they go about China, and I don’t want to waste our time responding to each and every thing they have said,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
Wang was remarking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday after back-to-back verbal attacks targeting Beijing by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Reuters reported.
“What I want to say is that all of these accusations against China are lies. They’re not based on facts,” he added.
Esper had blamed Beijing for leading a “nefarious strategy,” repeating Washington’s accusations of espionage and foreign intervention against the Chinese company.
He also called on one of the US’s allies, the UK, to take “two steps back” in its decision to cooperate with Huawei after London chose to give the company a role in building its 5G communication networks.
The US defense chief said Washington was working with technology companies in the United States and allied nations to develop alternatives to Chinese 5G vendors and was testing them at US military bases.
Pompeo had also accused Russia and China of pursuing “empire,” claiming, “The West is winning, and we're winning together."
The top US diplomat played down the US partners’ outrage at Washington’s unilateral policies under President Donald Trump, alleging, "I'm happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly exaggerated.”
Such confident assurances have, however, failed to hold back complaints by the US’s closest European allies.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday blasted the US for making the world more dangerous.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the conference that he was not surprised by Steinmeier's speech and had even liked it. "We cannot be the United States' junior partner," Macron said, adding, "I'm impatient for European solutions."
The characteristically warm transatlantic ties were rocked by Trump’s decision to pull out of a multi-lateral nuclear deal with Iran, which has some of the US’s strongest European allies as its signatories.
The US has also locked horns with Europe over its underway projects with Moscow to have the Russian gas imported to the continent through jointly-built pipelines.