China voices against trade protectionism after failed Huawei, AT&T deal

China's commerce ministry Thursday voiced opposition to trade protectionism in response to a reported failed deal by Chinese tech company Huawei in the United States.

Gao Feng, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference that China is against trade protectionism in any form, and that he hopes the United States meets China halfway to promote healthy and stable Sino-U.S. economic ties.

News reports said earlier this week that Huawei's planned deal with U.S. telecoms carrier AT&T to sell its smartphones in the United States suffered a setback.

Photo shows a Huawei store in Las Vegas. [Photo: IC]

The spokesperson also expressed concerns over restrictions on Chinese investment placed by the United States citing national security concerns. 

The U.S. government rejected a merger by China's Ant Financial with U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram International Inc. over national security concerns last week.

"As far as the Ant Financial case is concerned, we feel sorry to see that normal business investment and merger made by a Chinese enterprise in the U.S. was once again blocked due to the so-called national security reasons," said Gao Feng.

"We do not oppose normal security review by relevant countries over foreign investment, but we are concerned about the acts of setting up glass door and swing door to restrict foreign investment citing national security," Gao added.