“The UK government has lost such important independence and autonomy from Huawei,” Hua Chunying said at a news conference commenting on the British ban on using components from the Chinese company on the 5G network.

The diplomatic spokesperson stressed that the cooperation between the United Kingdom and Huawei served British interests and created tens of thousands of jobs, in addition to contributing to the development of British telecommunications.

“London’s decision to ban the use of Huawei products will end up damaging the interests of the United Kingdom, the British Government must listen to the rational declarations that are made in the country and take the responsible decision that best corresponds to the true British interests to long term,” added Hua Chunying.

For his part, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng stated that “London’s discriminatory practice goes against the principle of free trade, seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization, undermines the confidence of Chinese investors in the UK and it has a great impact on the field of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.”

Furthermore, such actions undermine the UK’s prestige in the international trading system, added Gao Feng.

“As for the British violation of free trade policy, China is analyzing the situation and will take all necessary measures to defend the rights and legitimate interests of Chinese companies,” said the spokesman.

On July 14, the Minister of Digital Technologies, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, announced that the UK telecommunications industry will stop using new components from the Chinese company Huawei in the 5G network from the end of the year. The sector will have until 2027 to withdraw all the Chinese company’s products from the infrastructure of the revolutionary new generation network.

In May 2019, the U.S. government blacklisted Huawei for its alleged connections to Chinese intelligence and was pressuring other countries to refrain from using that firm’s equipment when adopting 5G technology.

The White House accuses the company of alleged collaboration with Chinese intelligence and espionage of its clients.

The Chinese technology giant rejects those accusations, which they call unfounded and politically motivated, in addition to threatening free competition in the markets.

The trade agreement with the US

Furthermore, Chunying stated that China hopes that the trade agreement with the United States can still be implemented.

“As for the trade agreement with the United States, of course, we hope that it can still be implemented,” the spokeswoman told reporters, adding that China “always fulfils its obligations.”

On July 15, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington expects Beijing to meet its obligations under phase one of the trade agreement.

On January 15, United States President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed phase one of the trade agreement, paving the way for Beijing to buy more than $ 200 billion in US goods and services to make up for the huge deficit commercial suffered by the United States in the past.