China Protests EU Cybersecurity Law on 'Huawei Ban,' Calling It a Wrongful Act

The European Union (EU) has begun phasing out Chinese telecommunications equipment and electronic products due to cybersecurity threats, prompting a strong backlash from the Chinese government.

A citizen stands under the Huawei logo at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai, China. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News Agency

On January 22, He Yungchen, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, expressed "serious concern" regarding the new draft cybersecurity law released by the European Commission.

The draft law includes provisions to gradually remove equipment from companies classified as so-called "high-risk suppliers" within the EU. The regulation applies to 18 sectors, including autonomous vehicles, power grids, drones, computing, healthcare, aerospace, and semiconductors. Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE are expected to be directly affected.

Spokesperson He stated, "Chinese companies have long operated in Europe in compliance with laws and regulations," and criticized, "The EU's baseless designation of certain Chinese firms as high-risk suppliers and its restrictions on their participation in 5G construction constitute discrimination. This is a wrongful act that politicizes economic and trade issues and excessively expands them into security concerns."

Meanwhile, Spokesperson He also addressed the trade agreements reached following the China-Canada summit, particularly regarding Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian canola seeds. He explained, "Canada has decided to grant an annual import quota of 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles, applying a most-favored-nation tariff rate of 6.1% within the quota. This is a positive step by Canada and good news for Chinese electric vehicles entering the Canadian market."

He further added, "Regarding the issue of Canadian canola seeds, China has advocated resolving trade disputes through dialogue. A final decision will be made based on facts and evidence, which will help deepen related trade and industrial cooperation between China and Canada and enhance the welfare of both countries' peoples."