BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday denounced the U.S. suppression and containment of Chinese high-tech firms by abusing state power.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing when commenting on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent announcement of the so-called "Clean Network" program to eliminate some Chinese apps from U.S. app stores.

"Pompeo and his likes have time and again abused state power to bring down Chinese high-tech companies under the pretext of national security, which China firmly opposes," Wang said.

The U.S. practice has no factual basis at all and is sheer malicious slander and political manipulation in an attempt to maintain its high-tech monopoly, he said. "This is a typical hegemonic behavior that runs against market principles and international trade rules and severely threatens the security of global industrial and supply chains."

"I want to stress that many Chinese companies subject to U.S. unilateral sanctions are innocent, who just provide safe technologies and products," Wang said, adding that not a single cybersecurity incident like those revealed by Edward Snowden or WikiLeaks has ever occurred, and not a single tapping or surveillance operation like PRISM, Equation Group or Echelon has taken place.

"It is preposterous for the dirty-handed United States to preach a 'clean network,'" Wang said.

He urged the United States to rectify its wrongdoing, create conditions for the normal trade and economic cooperation between companies from different countries and restore a free, open and safe cyberspace to the world.

"China stands ready to continuously work with other countries to safeguard a fair, just, open and non-discriminatory business environment, promote international science and technology exchange and cooperation, and ensure that safe, reliable and high-quality information technology will serve as an emerging driving force for global economic recovery and better life for people around the globe," Wang added.