The Chinese Embassy in Argentina issued a statement alleging that the United States is meddling in the commercial relationships between Argentine firms and the Chinese telecommunications behemoth, Huawei. The communiqué, released late on Wednesday, came in response to reports indicating that the U.S. Embassy in Argentina had cautioned directors of a private cooperative in Neuquén province about potential visa restrictions should they proceed with a planned agreement with Huawei, a firm deemed a national security risk by Washington. The Chinese Embassy asserted that its U.S. counterpart had “deliberately stoked the ‘China threat theory,’ expanded the concept of national security and, by revoking visas, blatantly prevented an Argentine company from engaging in normal cooperation with the Chinese company Huawei.”
It added that the move “fully reflects the arrogance and prejudice of the United States” and amounted to “a serious disregard for the sovereignty of other countries and a grave undermining of free-market principles,” a position China said it “firmly opposes.” The embassy also contested Washington’s enduring discourse on democracy and individual liberties. “The United States has always boasted about its values of democracy and freedom, but it does not tolerate a foreign private company operating and developing normally in a third country, which fully exposes its hypocritical nature,” the statement said. The CALF Cooperative (Neuquén Provincial Cooperative for Public and Community Services, Limited) is responsible for the distribution of electricity in the Patagonian city of Neuquén and its surrounding areas in southern Argentina.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy cautioned CALF’s board members that they might encounter the revocation of their U.S. visas should the cooperative proceed with its agreement with Huawei. On its site, the company announced in April that it formed a “strategic alliance” with the Chinese giant in order to “enhance the electrical and connectivity infrastructure in the Neuquén region.” U.S. Ambassador Peter Lamelas conveyed to Argentine newspaper Clarín that the matter at hand was not about meddling in “Argentine sovereignty” but was fundamentally related to U.S. national security. CALF issued a public statement on Wednesday indicating that it started receiving communications thru an instant messaging platform in early July regarding “a U.S. government policy that would restrict or revoke visas for executives involved in the expansion of Huawei’s operations in Argentina.”
According to the cooperative, the communications also enquired if it could terminate the project or if CALF had “crossed the line.” The cooperative said that if there were “a well-founded technical objection” to its network, it should be “submitted in writing through institutional channels.” It added that, while it is “willing to make its projects available to the relevant Argentine technical agencies for evaluation,” it will “continue to evaluate bids from all suppliers worldwide — whether American, European, or Asian.” Additionally, CALF requested clarity on the extent of Washington’s warning in an official letter addressed to the U.S. Embassy and copied to Argentina’s Foreign Ministry. Clarín claims that the action may have an impact on two trustees and sixteen members of the cooperative’s board of directors.