China’s foreign ministry said on Monday the U.S. was “blatantly bullying” Chinese firms and urged it to stop oppressing foreign companies, in response to news of potential U.S. sanctions against Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (0981.HK), China’s largest chipmaker.
The ministry’s spokesman Zhao Lijian made the comments at a daily news briefing.
The U.S. Department of Defense might block American companies from providing goods and services to SMIC.