WASHINGTON A group of senior U.S. House Republicans on Thursday urged the Biden administration to crack down on Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) after reports suggested Huawei has developed an advanced smartphone capable of supporting 5G.

The lawmakers - including the chairs of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs, Energy and Commerce, Armed Services, and select China committees - urged the Commerce Department to stop granting licenses to Chinese government-controlled companies, such as SMIC, and said it called for additional U.S. pressure "and more effective export controls on our adversaries."

The letter also called on the administration "to strategically bar the import of SMIC-produced semiconductors, particularly those that pose risks to national security, into the United States" and for the administration to "pursue criminal charges against executives from SMIC and Huawei."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)