China state media accuses U.S. of trying to “colonize global business”

China’s state media on Friday accused the Trump administration of seeking to “colonize global business.” This came after the Trump administration took steps to blacklist tech giant Huawei as well as other measures against Chinese tech companies the U.S. sees as too close to China’s government.

The Associated Press reported that a Chinese state-run newspaper published an editorial Friday accusing Washington of attempting to take the “moral high ground” to give the U.S. a pedestal upon which to promote a political agenda.

“In this way, it is hoping to achieve the colonization of the global business world,” the piece in China’s English daily newspaper China Daily read, according to the AP.

The statements were repeated by Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, according to the AP, who reportedly accused unnamed U.S. politicians of “fabricating various lies based on subjective presumptions and trying to mislead the American people.”

China and the U.S. have been entrenched in a battle for months over the U.S.’s concerns surrounding Huawei, a smartphone manufacturer that the Trump administration says allows Chinese intelligence agencies to embed malware in its devices before they are sold overseas.

The Trump administration took the unusual step last week of officially blacklisting the company, preventing any U.S. company from doing business with the Chinese tech giant. This comes even as other countries have been hesitant to fully comply with the U.S.’s calls to cease business with Huawei.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced Monday that U.S. companies would have 90 days to cease business with Huawei, stating that the measure “grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long-term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese company said this week that “restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the US lagging behind in 5G deployment, and eventually harming the interests of US companies and consumers.”

“In addition, unreasonable restrictions will infringe upon Huawei’s rights and raise other serious legal issues,” the Huawei spokesperson added.