China blasts Germany over reported plan to ban Huawei, ZTE

China is "strongly dissatisfied" with Germany's reported plans to ban Huawei and ZTE from the country's 5G network, the Chinese embassy has said.

"If the report is true, China is very puzzled and strongly dissatisfied that the relevant German government departments made the above decision without any factual basis," the embassy in Berlin said in a statement on Mar 8.

"China firmly opposes Germany's generalisation of the concept of national security and abuse of state power to intervene in the market in its cooperation with China, which not only violates economic laws and the principle of fair competition, but also harms others rather than benefits itself," the statement said.

The embassy's remarks come after German newspaper Zeit Online reported that Berlin is preparing to prohibit telecoms companies from using certain components from Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE, following similar bans by Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Germany's cybersecurity agency and interior ministry made the decision after spending months examining the country's 5G networks for potential security risks, Zeit Online reported.

Western security officials have claimed that Huawei and ZTE pose threats to national security and privacy due to their close ties to Beijing, making them unsuitable for involvement in next-generation communications networks.