A Chinese diplomat, normally a vocal backer of government policies, was recently caught using Twitter for iPhone to defend Huawei and attack Apple and U.S. President Donald Trump.

"It has just been revealed why @realDonaldTrump hated a private company from China so much that that it went so far by announcing a national emergency," wrote China's deputy chief of mission in Islamabad Zhao Lijian, quoted by Bloomberg. "Look at the logo of Huawei. It has cut APPLE into pieces..."

The original version of the post, tagged "Twitter for iPhone," appears to have disappeared in favor of a repost.

Last week the Trump administration leveled a dual blow against Huawei, blocking it from acquiring American technology while simultaneously preventing American telecoms firms from using Huawei equipment. That immediately jeopardized its status as a smartphone giant, since several of its suppliers are American and Google decided to suspend the company's Android license.

On Monday, though, the U.S. government eased off on restrictions, allowing Huawei to temporarily buy American goods for the sake of maintaining networks and pushing out updates for its smartphone lineup. Ultimately both Huawei and U.S. telcos may have to turn to other partners.

Both the previous and current administration have issued escalating sales bans, over concerns that Huawei's ties to the Chinese government could potentially lead to backdoors into U.S. networks, and has pressured allies to adopt a similar position. China, meanwhile, has accused the White House of using security concerns as a way of suppressing one of the country's biggest businesses amid an ongoing trade war.

One of the potential beneficiaries of the Huawei restrictions is Apple. Huawei dominates the Chinese smartphone market, while Apple's iPhone has struggled there in the face of cheaper local brands.