FedEx must explain rerouting of Huawei's parcels, says Foreign Ministry

FedEx should give a reasonable explanation as to why several parcels sent by Huawei had been diverted and rerouted, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday.

Undated photo of a Huawei outlet in Beijing. [File photo: AFP]

"Generally, we don't comment on the business activity of enterprises. But this case has triggered hot debate online and it is rational for FedEx to give an explanation to Huawei and the public," said Lu. "I don't know whether occurrences such as this always happen at FedEx… If it is just a rare occurrence, then FedEx must explain why diversions and rerouting happen to Huawei so frequently."

The Chinese tech giant issued a statement on Tuesday saying it is reviewing its relationship with the American express delivery company after it discovered that two parcels from Japan addressed to Huawei in China were diverted to the United States. Huawei says FedEx also attempted to reroute two other parcels sent from Vietnam to Huawei without authorization.

Though FedEx later apologized and claimed the packages were "misrouted in error", many netizens have taken to social media to suggest that the packages might have been diverted at the request of the American government.