Staff members of China Mobile test the signals of the 5G base station built at an altitude of 6,500 meters at the advance camp of Mount Qomolangma in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on May 21, 2020. Today, 5,417 villages, or 99 percent of all villages in the region, have 4G network coverage, and 5,439 villages have fiber-optic network connections. Aided by broadband and 4G coverage, mobile Internet is transforming the way of life on the plateau. E-commerce is booming, generating new avenues of income for Tibetans. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

Spurious use of the concept of national security, and attacking specific countries and enterprises run counter to the basic law of scientific and technological development and the common interests of all countries, said China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, responding to a question that US politicians have been threatening other countries not to use 5G equipment made by Chinese companies.

"In the field of science and technology, the use of ideology to demarcate technological development, artificially create barriers or even misuse the concept of national security, and suppress certain countries and specific enterprises run counter the common interests of all countries," said Zhao Lijian, a spokesman of the Foreign Ministry during a press briefing in Beijing.

The progress made by Chinese high-tech companies in 5G is there for all to see. Over recent years, China has become one of the world's important clusters for 5G patent applications, said the spokesperson.

According to the data of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's 5G construction continues to speed up with the launch of commercial 5G, with a total of 718,000 5G base stations already rolled out. In the field of 5G during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2015-19), China built a complete ecosystem covering systems, terminals, chips and instruments. The total number of Chinese patent claims for 5G standards accounted for one third of the global total. China's network scale and the number of users both ranked first in the world.

China has consistently stated that 5G technology is a pioneering, leading and integrated technology on which the 4th industrial revolution is made possible. The development and utilization of 5G should be shared by all countries through consultation, collaboration and sharing, said Zhao.

"We hope that all countries will respect the laws of the market and the will of their businesses, and act in the common interests of their own and the international community to provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for companies of China and all other countries. In the spirit of mutual respect and trust, as well as mutually beneficial cooperation and development, China is ready to partner with others across various fields including 5G, so as to better benefit the whole mankind," Zhao noted.