American officials have argued that Huawei poses an “unacceptable risk” to US national security.

China has reacted angrily to reports that the United States is moving to further restrict exports of American technology to Huawei, accusing Washington of deliberately targeting Chinese companies under the pretext of national security.

The Financial Times reported earlier that the US Commerce Department had notified some companies that it would no longer approve licences for American companies to export most items to China’s hi-tech company Huawei, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

A Reuters report, quoting unnamed sources, said US officials are creating a new formal policy of denial for shipping items to Huawei that would include items below the 5G level, including 4G items, wifi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing and cloud items.

Bloomberg also reported, citing anonymous sources, that officials were considering cutting off Huawei from all US suppliers, though it noted that a decision had not yet been made.

“China is deeply concerned,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference Tuesday, adding: “We are closely following relevant developments.”

“China strongly opposes the United States’ unscrupulous generalisation of the concept of national security, abuse of state power, and unjustified suppression of Chinese companies,” she said. “Such moves violate the principle of market economy and international trade rules and dampen international confidence in the US business environment.”

Mao vowed that Beijing would “firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”

Huawei’s ties to the world’s biggest economy have already been curtailed in recent years as the US continuously clamps down on the Chinese tech giant.

In 2019, Washington placed the company on a trade blacklist that restricts most US suppliers from exporting goods and technology to the company unless they were granted licences. US officials continued to tighten the controls by seeking to cut Huawei off

In 2019, Washington added the company to the so-called “entity list,” which restricts exports to select organizations without a US government license. The following year, the US government expanded on those curbs by seeking to cut Huawei off from chip suppliers using US-made technology.

American officials have argued that Huawei poses an “unacceptable risk” to US national security, with the Biden administration banning approvals of new telecommunications equipment from the company and ZTE.

Huawei has vehemently denied the claims, and its founder and CEO has repeatedly said the company would never hand data over to the Chinese government.