China rejects ‘groundless’ US warnings over Huawei as it seeks to ease Europe’s concerns
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismisses claims tech giant could be used to spy on West ahead of meeting with EU counterpart
- China is trying to ease European nerves after Brussels started to take an increasingly tough stance towards Beijing
China dismissed US security warnings about Huawei as groundless and “abnormal” on Monday, as Beijing’s top diplomat went to Brussels in an effort to cool growing European frustration over trade.
In a veiled reference to the Chinese tech giant, which the United States has warned could be used to spy on the West, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Washington to stop its attempts to “bring down” the company.
“What we oppose are groundless accusations for political purposes and attempts to bring down a foreign company,” Wang said, although he did not name Huawei, which is seeking to sell the next generation of mobile technology in Europe, its top market outside China.
“We think such practices are abnormal, immoral and have no support,” he said after a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and hours before a lunch with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
While eager to talk up “win-win” cooperation with the EU, the world’s biggest trading bloc, Wang began a day of talks against a backdrop of intense EU diplomacy.
