The remark mirrored the exchanges between China's Minister for Industry and Information Technology and Cook during a meeting earlier this week in Beijing.

China is willing to help return Sino-U.S. economic and trade ties to a healthy and stable track of development through regular exchanges between government and enterprises, Wang added.

China will further optimise the business environment and continue to provide quality services for foreign enterprises, Wang said, but also told Cook that the highlighting of national security "is not conducive to normal economic and trade exchanges".

(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Christian Schmollinger)