Beijing: The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to begin revoking the companies’ U.S. licenses. It said they are security risks controlled by the communist Beijing government.
China’s government on Thursday called on Washington to drop efforts to expel three state-owned Chinese phone companies from the United States in a new clash over technology and security.
The Chinese foreign ministry accused Washington of misusing security complaints to hurt Chinese commercial competitors.
The United States should ‘stop the wrong practice of generalizing the concept of national security and politicizing economic issues’ and ‘stop abusing state power to unreasonably suppress Chinese enterprises,’ said a ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian.
The decision adds to mounting U.S.-Chinese conflict over the ruling Communist Party’s industrial plans, access to American technology and accusations of computer attacks and theft of business secrets.
The latest announcement came as U.S. and Chinese envoys were flying to Alaska for the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the two sides since Biden took office in January.