China has warned the United States of retaliation over its new restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei, saying it will take “all necessary measures" to safeguard the company’s legitimate rights and interests.
"China will take all necessary measures to resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms," China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Sunday.
The statement further called the United States’ measure a "serious threat to global supply chains," adding that "China urges the US to immediately cease its wrong actions."
“The US uses state power, under the so-called excuse of national security, and abuses export control measures to continuously oppress and contain specific enterprises of other countries,” the statement said.
China’s warning came after the United States imposed new restrictions on Huawei, severely limiting its ability to use American technology to design and manufacture semiconductors produced for it abroad.
The Commerce Department said in a statement on Friday that the new restrictions would "narrowly and strategically" target Huawei's acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology.
Beijing has already condemned the move, urging Washington to stop the "unreasonable suppression” of Huawei as well as other Chinese enterprises.
The latest rules will ban foreign firms that use US technology from shipping semiconductors to Huawei without US permission.
They will also cut off Huawei's access to one of its major suppliers, the Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, which also manufactures chips for Apple and other tech firms.
Huawei has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The latest restrictions are a new escalation in the US-China battle for global technological dominance. The United States does not want China to dominate 5G mobile networks and is seeking to convince other nations not to use the Chinese firm's equipment for 5G.
Huawei, considered the world leader in superfast 5G equipment and the world's number two smartphone producer, has been under relentless pressure from Washington, which has lobbied allies worldwide to avoid the company’s telecom gear over security concerns, in the shadow of a wider US-China trade conflict.
Washington has repeatedly accused the Chinese tech giant of a "decades-long" effort to steal trade secrets from American companies. Huawei has time and again denied the accusations.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has blacklisted Huawei to block the company from getting any US telecom equipment contracts and prevent the transfer of American technology to the Chinese firm.
Washington accuses Huawei of providing Beijing with a way to spy on communications from the countries that use its products and services.