GUANGZHOU -- On Aug. 23, Lu Kang, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, in a daily briefing urged the Australian government to "abandon ideological prejudices and provide a fair competitive environment for Chinese companies doing business in Australia."
The remarks came in response to Canberra's decision the same day to ban Huawei Technologies and ZTE from supplying equipment for fifth-generation mobile networks in Australia. The move likely came as a shock to Beijing, which has ambitions to dominate the global telecom market.
