US Attorney General William Barr on Thursday said American corporations such as Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have been too willing to cooperate with government requests from the Communist Party of China (CCP).
"Over the years, corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Apple have shown themselves all too willing to collaborate with the CCP," Barr said during remarks at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in the state of Michigan.
Barr also criticized Hollywood and Disney for censoring certain films shown in China and complying with other CCP government requests.
Barr took aim at China's growing influence on global trade, saying they are engaged in an "economic blitzkrieg." He also warned that the United States dangerously relies on China for rare earth materials and other supplies.
The US-China relationship began to deteriorate after US President Donald Trump ordered 25 per cent tariffs to be placed on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in June of 2018 in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. Since then, the two have exchanged multiple rounds of duties.
Tensions worsened with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. After the first outbreak was recorded in China's Wuhan city last December, Trump claimed that the virus was created in a local virology laboratory by the Chinese government and then released into the world, either accidentally or deliberately. Beijing has consistently denied the allegation.
Recently, the confrontation spiralled further as China adopted a controversial national security law to expand its power in Hong Kong, to which the United States responded by withdrawing Hong Kong's preferential trading partner status. (Sputnik/)
( With inputs from ANI )