Beijing (AFP)

China on Tuesday denounced "economic harassment" of the United States, after a proposal by the US regulator to prohibit domestic operators buying equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and ZTE with public money.

The FCC, the US regulator of telecoms, also proposed Monday to remove all equipment from the two Chinese companies that have already been installed, to "protect the country's communication networks."

Huawei and ZTE are regularly accused by Washington of representing a danger to national security because of potential links, but not proven so far, with the Chinese intelligence services.

"We strongly oppose that the United States, by resorting to unjustified accusations and without any evidence, abuse the authority of the State to repress Chinese companies," responded Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the United States. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"This economic harassment of the United States is a denial of the principle of a market economy that the United States itself has always praised," Geng said at a regular press conference.

FCC President Ajit Pai said he would ban operators receiving US public money from buying equipment or services from companies "posing a threat to national security".

"In terms of 5G and America's security, we can not take any chances and then hope quietly that everything will be fine," Pai said in a statement.

"We can not ignore the risk that the Chinese government will exploit vulnerabilities in the network to spy on, insert malware and viruses, and compromise our critical communications networks."

Huawei responded by pointing out that Washington had not provided any evidence that the company posed a threat.

"In 30 years of operation, Huawei has never experienced a major security incident in the 170 countries where we operate," the company said in a statement.

"Prohibiting some suppliers based on their country of origin will not help protect US telecommunications networks."

Huawei is regularly blacklisted by the Trump administration in a context of trade war and technological rivalry with China.

The telecom giant has been blacklisted in the United States and US service and component companies are now banned from trading with the Chinese firm.

burs-dma / ehl / bar / nas

© 2019 AFP