US ban on chip exports for Huawei is 'economic coercion': China ministry

BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday accused the United States of "economic coercion" over the revocation of export licenses that permitted companies to supply chips to Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The United States has generalized the concept of national security, politicized economic issues, and abused export control measures, repeatedly taking unreasonable sanctions and suppression measures against a specific Chinese enterprise, a spokesperson for the ministry said in response to media inquiry on the reported cancellation.

The spokesperson highlighted that the U.S. restrictions on exporting purely civilian consumer chip products to China and the implementation of a supply cut-off to a specific Chinese company represent a clear case of economic coercion.

This approach not only contravenes World Trade Organization (WTO) rules but also severely harms the interests of U.S. companies, said the spokesperson.

Furthermore, the spokesperson pointed out that the U.S. actions have significantly breached the commitment of not seeking to decouple from China and not hindering China's development, adding that these actions are also in stark contrast to the U.S. claim of precisely defining national security.

The spokesperson said that China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.