China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. today launched a blistering verbal attack on the U.S. government, accusing officials of taking “illegal action” against both it and its employees.

Huawei’s diatribe came via an official Twitter account, where it claimed the U.S. government is “trying to disrupt Huawei’s operations with every tool at its disposal.”

The company’s tweets objected strongly to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that claimed Huawei is the subject of a new Department of Justice probe into alleged technology theft. The claim relates to the alleged theft of technology from a Portuguese multimedia producer, the Journal said at the time.

The allegation is distinct from claims made against Huawei in January that it stole intellectual property belonging to T-Mobile USA Inc., and from the allegations of fraud involving its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou.

The Journal reported the new charges against Huawei could lead to a possible subpoena from federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York.

In a series of tweets, Huawei said it “categorically rejects” claims made by the producer, Rui Pedro Oliveira, saying that he’s “taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation. He is pushing a false narrative through the media in an attempt to capitalize on a dispute. This type of behavior should not be encouraged, nor should it be considered rational justification for a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.”

(3/4) Huawei also rejects Mr. Oliveira‘s claims of patent infringement regarding our EnVizion 360 panoramic camera. There are fundamental differences between our and Mr. Oliviera’s designs. Learn more: https://t.co/xVDt2lzwXx pic.twitter.com/4qtAEoOeK5

— Huawei Facts (@HuaweiFacts) September 3, 2019

Unable to restrain itself, Huawei launched a full-on, North Korea-style verbal attack, accusing the U.S. government of “leveraging its political and diplomatic influence to lobby other governments to ban Huawei equipment.” It further accused the government, without evidence, of “unlawfully” searching and detaining Huawei employees and partners, launching cyberattacks on its internal systems, and telling law enforcement officials to “threaten, menace, coerce, entice and incite both current and former Huawei employees to turn against the company.”

(1/4) For months, the U.S. has leveraged its political and diplomatic influence to lobby other governments to ban Huawei gear, using every tool at its disposal to disrupt normal business operations of Huawei and its partners. Read more here: https://t.co/xVDt2lzwXx pic.twitter.com/VPRfYjhveN

— Huawei Facts (@HuaweiFacts) September 3, 2019

After the exhaustive list of allegations, the company signed off with the declaration that “none of Huawei’s core technology has been the subject of any criminal case brought against the company” and “none of the accusations levied by the U.S. government have been supported with sufficient evidence.”

Huawei was placed on a list of “banned entities” that are barred from doing business with American companies in May, due to what U.S. President Donald Trump said were national security reasons. It was granted a 90-day reprieve shortly after the company was blacklisted, which allowed it to continue doing business with U.S. companies. That “temporary general license” was later extended by another 90 days.

Huawei’s furious attack on the U.S. government is surprising because up until now, the company has largely restrained itself to denying allegations against it in much more neutral tones.

The attack could be a sign that Huawei is feeling the pressure of U.S. sanctions against it: Reports suggest that its upcoming Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro smartphones might ship without an official version of the Android operating system because of the ban.

Photo: Laboratorio linux/Flickr