China has warned that it will take “necessary measures” to protect Huawei and other Chinese firms after the United States announced new restrictions on the company’s purchases of semiconductor technology.
On Friday, Washington, ramped up sanctions on the company by cutting Huawei off from global chipmakers.
Under the new restriction imposed by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security on Friday, foreign companies that use U.S. chipmaking equipment will have to obtain a U.S. license before supplying certain chips to Huawei, while Huawei is required to receive licenses from the U.S. Commerce Department to continue to receive some chipsets or use some semiconductor designs tied to certain U.S. software and technology.
“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms,” the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday.
“China urges the US to immediately cease its wrong actions,” the ministry added, calling the restrictions a “serious threat to global supply chains.”
The threat of retaliation comes a day after Beijing condemned the US move as “unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises.”
The US Commerce Department said Friday its new sanctions would “narrowly and strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology.”
The new restrictions will cut off Huawei’s access to one of its major suppliers, the Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, which also manufactures chips for Apple and other tech firms.
According to sources close to the Chinese government that the country is ready to put U.S. companies, including Apple, Boeing, Qualcomm and Cisco, on an “unreliable entity list” as part of a series of countermeasures.
Huawei published a post Saturday on its website saying:
On the 16th, Huawei issued a message through the Xinsheng community that heroes have suffered hard since ancient times. Looking back, it is rugged; looking forward, never give up.
The Bureau of Industrial Security (BIS) under the US Department of Commerce, responsible for export control, issued a notice that the temporary general license (TGL) for Huawei and its affiliates on the “Entity List” will be extended by 90 days. Until August 14. But at the same time, the US Department of Commerce said in another announcement that it plans to protect US national security by restricting Huawei’s ability to use US technology and software to design and manufacture semiconductors abroad.
Last year on 21 May, The People’s Daily interviewed Ren Zhengfei (founder and CEO of Huawei) at Huawei ‘s headquarters in Shenzhen. It is the first time that Huawei is being listed on the so-called “entity list” by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 15th.
Often chattering with reporters, Ren Zhengfei talked of a photo that he recently liked of a plane that was beaten like a sieve in World War II.
