U.S. halts export licenses for Huawei - sources

STORY: China is “seriously concerned” about a report that the United States has stopped granting U.S. companies export licences to tech giant Huawei.

That’s according to a foreign ministry spokesperson on Tuesday (January 31).

Huawei has faced U.S. export restrictions around 5G-related items and other technologies for several years.

But officials had granted licenses for American firms including Qualcomm to sell certain goods to Huawei.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a Beijing press conference that China opposes the U.S. abusing an overly broad notion of national security to suppress Chinese firms unreasonably.

She said the move “goes against the principles of the market economy and rules of international trade and finance, and hurts the confidence the international community has in the U.S business environment.”

She also accused the U.S. of practising “blatant technological hegemony”.

Sources told Reuters that U.S. officials are creating a new formal policy of denial, which prevents particular items being shipped to Huawei.

That includes products below the 5G level, some types of wifi gear, and items connected to artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and cloud technology.

A source said this new decision was expected to reflect Biden's policy tightening around the Chinese firm.