China decries 'political manipulations' behind Huawei case in US

China on Tuesday decried the "political manipulations" behind the US case against Huawei as Washington indicted the tech giant's chief financial officer and levelled sweeping charges against the company.

"For some time, the US has used state power to discredit and crack down on specific Chinese companies in an attempt to strangle the enterprises' legitimate and legal operations," China's foreign ministry said in a statement attributed to spokesman Geng Shuang.

"There are strong political motivations and political manipulations behind the actions," Geng said.

The US Justice Department unveiled 13 charges against Huawei Technologies, its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou -- the daughter of the company's founder -- who is currently out on bail in Canada, and two affiliates related to violating US sanctions on Iran.

In addition, 10 US federal charges were filed against two Huawei affiliates for stealing robot technology from T-Mobile.

China said it is "highly concerned" about the lawsuit against Huawei and called on the justice department to immediately withdraw the arrest warrant against Meng.

"We strongly urge the US to stop the unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies including Huawei and treat Chinese enterprises objectively and fairly," Geng said.

Geng also called on Canada to release Meng.