There has long been suspicion that Huawei is actually owned and controlled by the PLA. Not that it really makes much difference even if that were true (China would protect it even if it were a completely private enterprise).

I remember the quote from the RoboCop movie of the 80s when the CEO of OCP said: "We practically are the government".

That movie was ahead of its time.

In the specific case of China its more like the Government owns the big companies. But yes, basically.

In this particular case I think it's the other way around. The government owns the company.

So it's like the US.

Other way around. Many large corporations are founded by CCP members and receive massive government funding. In China at least the business and party elite are one and the same.

Governments typically protect their big players and it makes sense. You don’t expect U.S. don’t do anything if Asia or EU put sanctions on Apple or Microsoft.