Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin Photo: fmprc.gov.cn

The US' so-called Clean Network program has proven to be a synonym for coercive diplomacy, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday, after a former UK government minister admitted that the UK banned Huawei's 5G equipment under the US' pressure.

This once again confirms that the so-called national security justification and risks of 5G technology belong to a disguise used by the US to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises, Wang said.

Speaking at an event on Monday, Vince Cable, a former business and industry minister of the UK said that British decision to ban Huawei's 5G equipment and services "had nothing to do with national security," and it was because of the pressure from the US.

Cable said that the decision to move against the Chinese tech giant was taken "because the Americans told us we should do it."

In July 2020, the UK government announced that the UK's mobile telecom operators are banned from buying Huawei 5G equipment from the end of that year, and requires operators to remove all Huawei equipment from the UK's telecom system by 2027, citing a technical review by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The ban came just months after the US imposed sanctions against Huawei.

From Toshiba, Alstom to Huawei, Samsung and TSMC, the victims of the US' coercive diplomacy are all over the world, said Wang.

"The bullying from the US is bound to be increasingly rejected and opposed by the international community,"  he said.