BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday it hoped the United States would stop using national security as a pretext and create a fair environment for Chinese companies.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that for some time the United States had been abusing its national power to smear Chinese companies, and added that this was not honourable.

Geng was responding to a question on expectations for U.S. President Donald Trump to sign an executive order this week barring U.S. companies from using telecoms equipment made by firms posing a national security risk, paving the way for a ban on doing business with China’s Huawei.