Photo taken on Nov. 20, 2019 shows Huawei's exhibition booth during a press preview for the 2019 World 5G Convention in Beijing, capital of China.(Xinhua/Li Xin)

 

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced plans for new visa restrictions on employees of Chinese technology firms including Huawei, another bluffing move which intensifies already strained bilateral ties in an aim to win votes amid domestic chaos, analysts said.

The move also demonstrates how the US is politicizing business issues on fabricated reasoning in an aim to contain the rise of Chinese tech firms like Huawei, analysts said.

The US "will impose visa restrictions on certain employees ... of Chinese technology companies like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at a State Department press briefing on Wednesday.

"Telecommunications companies around the world should consider themselves on notice: If they are doing business with Huawei, they are doing business with human rights abusers," Pompeo said.

He did not elaborate on which employees would be targeted or how many people would be affected.

Huawei said US'planned visa restriction on its employees is an "unfair and arbitrary action", noting the firm is independent from the Chinese government and is fully "private and employee-owned."

We are disappointed at the restrictions on Huawei employees who make unremitting efforts to contribute to technological innovation in the US and around the world, said the firm.

The Trump administration is just bluffing and need to play more China cards in a bid to win votes ahead of the key election, which is fully within expectations, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, who closely follows the China-US trade conflict, told Global Times on Thursday.

Opinion polls showed Donald Trump is already trailing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead of November's election.

"Such a sanction is a showoff to voters rather than having any real meaning and impact on China. Just think twice, who will go to the US amid the worsening pandemic now?" Gao said.

In addition, an insider told the Global Times that most of Huawei's US employees have already gone back home given the country's intensified crackdown on the Chinese firm.

Pompeo did not elaborate on which other Chinese companies would be targeted.

The announcement also comes a day after Trump said on Tuesday that he has signed legislation to impose sanctions on China over its national security law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

"We have to be prepared for more 'extreme pressure' and 'eye-catching' sanctions from the US side in the next few months before the election," said Gao, noting that China is prepared for the worst to come.

China is set to release its countermeasures accordingly, at the right time and with the right strength, Gao said.

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday announced sanctions against the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel Brownback, US Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Republican Chris Smith, following the US' sanctions on several Chinese officials over Xinjiang-related issues.