The US has used “unscrupulous means” to attack Huawei’s business in recent months – trying to hack its servers and turn employees into spies using extortion, legal threats and coercion, the Chinese telecom giant has claimed.

Washington “has been using every tool at its disposal – including both judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means – to disrupt the normal business operations of Huawei and its partners,” the company said in a statement released on Tuesday, adding that the US had been “leveraging its political and diplomatic influence to lobby other governments to ban Huawei equipment” as well.

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Jealous of Huawei’s number-two position in the world smartphone market, the US government has used law enforcement to threaten, coerce, and entice current and former employees to become spies for Washington, impersonated Huawei employees for entrapment purposes, launching cyberattacks against company systems, and “obstruct[ed] normal business activities,” Huawei declared, accusing the US of interfering with shipments, denying visas, and otherwise waging lawfare against the company.

Washington has even conspired with Huawei clients and competitors to try to get the company blackballed in the industry, the company added.

The statement came in response to last week’s claim by the Wall Street Journal that the US Department of Justice was investigating Huawei for stealing a patented smartphone camera design.

Patent-holder Rui Pedro Oliveira, Huawei claimed, had threatened the Chinese company with media exposure and pressure exerted through “political channels” if it did not pay “an extortionate amount of money” – even though his design bears little resemblance to Huawei’s own. Accusing Oliveira of “taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation,” Huawei also slammed the media for “encouraging” such mendacious behavior.

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The allegations may seem like a ‘man-bites-dog’ story to media that have uncritically parroted US allegations that China is the one using Huawei’s ubiquitous telecom infrastructure to spy on other countries and stealing their tech, but Huawei has always maintained it is innocent of the charges of spying leveled against it by the US, and no proof of any spying has emerged.

“The fact remains that none of Huawei’s core technology has been the subject of any criminal case brought against the company, and none of the accusations levied by the US government have been supported with sufficient evidence,” the statement continued, concluding that “no company becomes a global leader in their field through theft.”

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