China to US: Crackdown on Huawei ‘unreasonable’

China on Tuesday told the U.S. to “stop the unreasonable crackdown” on technology giant Huawei after federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against the company, The Associated Press reports.

“We strongly urge the United States to stop the unreasonable crackdown on Chinese companies including Huawei,” the foreign ministry said in a statement read on state television.

It also said Beijing will defend the “lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies,” but gave no further details.

{mosads}Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Huawei with stealing intellectual property from T-Mobile and violating U.S. sanction orders.

Huawei denied the accusations, per AP.

“The company denies that it or its subsidiary or affiliate have committed any of the asserted violations of U.S. law set forth in each of the indictments,” a Huawei statement said.

In the presentation of the filings, American administrators also said they are in the process of requesting the extradition of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, last year at the request of American authorities.

Huawei said they are “not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng, and believes the U.S. courts will ultimately reach the same conclusion.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang also challenged Meng’s extradition.

“We urge the U.S. to immediately withdraw the arrest warrant against Miss Meng Wanzhou and stop making such kinds of extradition requests,” he said. “We urge Canada to take seriously China’s solemn position, immediately release Ms. Meng Wanzhou and protect her legitimate and legal rights.”