Beijing: China’s ministry of commerce says Australia has made “a wrong decision”, while a nationalistic tabloid has labelled the Australian government “back stabbers”, in the wake of Chinese companies being barred from the 5G rollout.

The ministry of commerce said new rules that exclude Huawei and ZTE from participating in 5G networks would have a negative impact on Australian and Chinese companies, in comments that appeared to link the ban to the wider trading relationship.

Huawei had been angling to build 5G infrastructure in Australia. Credit:AP

"Australia should look at the big picture of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, rather than easily interfere with and restrict normal business activities in the name of national security," a

ministry spokesman said.

A Global Times editorial on Friday accused Australia of setting a precedent for “discriminating against Huawei in the name of national security”.