Richard Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's consumer business group, unveils the company's first 5G modem on Thursday in Beijing (see story on B2). Photo: Courtesy of Huawei

The US government is using "network security" as an excuse to hide its real intention of attacking Huawei, which is threatening its global technology supremacy, a top Huawei executive said in a post widely circulated on Chinese social media on Monday.

Richard Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's consumer devices business, said in a WeChat post that the US' real motivation to stifle Huawei was that the company had stood in the way of US technology hegemony.

Yu's comments were directed at a post titled "Why must the US stranglehold Huawei: Attorney General William Barr." The article discussed a February 6 keynote speech by US Attorney General William Barr.

Barr began his speech by stating that US leadership in innovation and technology has been the basis of the US standard of living, economic future and national security, but moved on to say that China's current focus on dominating 5G technology - already capturing 40 percent of the global infrastructure market - has become a central concern of the US government. 

Huawei appeared 11 times in Barr's speech. 

"The question is whether, within this window, the US and our allies can mount sufficient competition to Huawei to retain and capture enough market share to sustain the kind of long-term and robust competitive position necessary to avoid surrendering dominance to China," Barr said.

"He has spoken the truth. 'Network security' is a mere excuse. The key is that Huawei stands in the way of US tech hegemony," Yu wrote.

In addition to Yu, other senior executives of Huawei have also shared the post on social media.

The US on Friday moved to cut its semiconductor chips supply to the Chinese technology giant. 

Chinese sources told the Global Times that China is ready to launch countermeasures on four US tech giants including Apple and Qualcomm.