China all set to make its biggest counterattack against US

China is ready to take a series of countermeasures against theplan of the United States to block shipments of semiconductors to Chinese telecom firm Huawei, including putting UScompanies on an "unreliable entity list".

It will launchinvestigations and imposing restrictions on us companies such as Apple, and halting purchase of Boeing airplanes, according toChinese state media.

The potential move, the second time within two days that China has released a message of hitting back against the US, also the very first time government source noted to target specific UScompanies, is a result of a spat between the two countries regarding the origin of the deadly coronavirus.

Both US and China aremulling punitive countermeasures against each otherover COVID-19 lawsuits due to the abuse of litigation.

China's latest moves indicate a toe-to-toe strategy between the world's two largest economies, from political to economic ends, being in full play, experts said.

The Trump administration on Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei from global chipmakers.

The UScommerce department said it was amending an export rule and the entity list to "strategically target Huawei's acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology," according to a statement on its website.

''China will take forceful countermeasures to protect its own legitimate rights," if the USmoves forward with the plan to change its rules and bar essential suppliers of chips, including Taiwan-based TSMC, from selling chips to Huawei, the source told the Chinese state media's channel Global Times.