The Chinese government has called on Washington to halt efforts to expel three state-owned Chinese phone companies from the United States, AP reports.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to suspend licenses to Chinese companies in the United States, arguing that they pose a security threat.

The Chinese MFA accused Washington of abusing security complaints to harm Chinese commercial competitors.

The United States must stop the wrong practice of generalizing the concept of national security and politicizing economic issues and stop abusing state power to unreasonably suppress Chinese enterprises, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian noted.

He noted that Beijing will take the necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.