China ‘gratified’ Huawei ban also met with US opposition as tech firms express concerns to Donald Trump

US president spoke with CEOs from Cisco, Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Micron Technology, Western Digital, and Alphabet at the White House on Monday

American leader said last month after meeting Xi Jinping that the restrictions on sales by US to Huawei would be relaxed, although the details still remain unclear

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US President Trump said last month after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Japan that American companies would be allowed to sell products without such implications, although the details remain unclear. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:45pm, 23 Jul 2019Updated: 11:59pm, 23 Jul 2019

China is “gratified” to see that firms in the United States do not fully agree with Washington’s decision to ban sales to Huawei, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, hours after US President Donald Trump met with American technology firms to discuss an easing of the restrictions on the blacklisted Chinese telecommunications equipment maker.

Huawei was placed on the trade blacklist in May due to national security concerns, although Trump said last month after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Japan that US companies would be allowed to sell products without such implications, although the details remain unclear.

“We hope the matter could be properly resolved as soon as possible, and also hope the relevant government can correct the mistake quickly,” said Ministry of Industry and Information Technology spokesman Wen Ku, who is also the chief of the telecommunications department.

“China does not want to see the situation of [sales to Huawei] being suppressed, many American companies do not want to see that neither.”

Wen did not specifically mention Trump’s meeting with the CEOs from Cisco, Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Micron Technology, Western Digital, and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, on Monday.

The executives demanded prompt licensing decisions on sales to Huawei, but a White House statement on Monday said that they also expressed “strong support” for national security restrictions on US telecommunications equipment purchases and sales to Huawei.

Many American companies, including Intel and Qualcomm, have played an active role in China’s 5G wireless technology development, Wen added.