China’s top diplomat endorsed Huawei’s lawsuit against the United States a day after the telecommunications giant told a federal judge it is being identified unjustly with the Chinese government.
“We support the company and the individual in question in seeking legal redress to protect their own interests and refusing to be victimized like silent lambs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters, per the South China Morning Post.
Huawei has been a target of intensifying American criticism in recent years, as U.S. officials regard the tech giant as an espionage risk because of its ties with Chinese spy services. The U.S. has banned the company’s products from being used by the military, prompting the lawsuit.
President Trump’s administration also seeks to prosecute a top Huawei executive who was arrested in Canada on charges of circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran, and the Department of Justice has charged the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer with money laundering, bank fraud, wire fraud, and circumventing sanctions on Iran.
“What we are standing up for is not just the interest of a company but also a nation’s right to development, and by extension the basic right of all countries who wish to climb up the technology ladder,” Wang said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned U.S. allies and consumers not to work with the company. “They’ll steal American technology and, frankly, use those systems to invade your privacy,” he said Monday.
