China has said it backs Huawei's legal suit against the United States government, and that the Chinese telecoms giant was right in refusing to be a "silent lamb".

The country's top diplomat was unequivocal in his support for Huawei, describing recent actions taken against it as "deliberate political suppression".

China will continue to do everything to protect the rights of Chinese enterprises and citizens abroad, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said yesterday.

He urged the US to "abandon its zero-sum thinking", pointing out that the world's two biggest economies are inseparable and should cooperate instead of competing. Two-way trade last year surpassed US$630 billion (S$857 billion) and delinking trade ties - as some have suggested - was unrealistic, said Mr Wang.

"Decoupling from China means decoupling from opportunity, that is, decoupling from the future. In a sense, it is also decoupling from the world," he added.

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