China's commerce ministry has threatened investigations into the EU or its businesses and reciprocal measures in response to the European Union's January 2026 cybersecurity proposal, which could designate China a 'cybersecurity threat' and list firms like Huawei and ZTE as 'high-risk suppliers' for mandatory removal from 5G networks. The warning comes amid the EU's push to phase out such vendors from telecom, hi-tech sectors, and critical infrastructure within three years.
In a submission to the European Commission's feedback request on its proposed cybersecurity act, China's commerce ministry stated: “If the EU designates China as a ‘country posing cybersecurity concerns’ or lists Chinese entities as ‘high risk suppliers’ to phase out equipment manufactured by Chinese businesses in a compulsory manner and exclude Chinese products and services from the EU market, China can launch relevant investigations into the EU or EU businesses, and take reciprocal measures.”
This responds to the EU's January proposal, which for the first time mandates 27 member states to remove security-risk firms from 5G networks within three years—escalating from prior recommendations. The framework allows designating entire countries as threats, impacting telecommunications, connected vehicles, electricity and water, cloud computing, medical devices, space services, and semiconductors.
Beijing's statement underscores concerns over potential targeting of Huawei and ZTE, amid broader EU efforts to reduce dependencies on high-risk third-country tech following incidents like the Eurail hack. Part of ongoing EU-China tensions over cybersecurity.