Huawei’s founder says world can’t live without it

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BEIJING, Feb 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The founder of Chinese telecom giant
Huawei has hit back at US efforts to blacklist the company, saying defiantly
that the world cannot do without Huawei and its “more advanced” technology.

“There’s no way the US can crush us,” Ren Zhengfei said in an interview
with the BBC.

“The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced.”

Ren, 74, also denounced as “politically motivated” the December arrest of
his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is accused of
violating US sanctions against Iran.

“We object to this,” he said.

“But now that we’ve gone down this path, we’ll let the courts settle it.”

The normally media-shy Huawei founder has been forced to step into the
limelight in recent months as the company has come under increasing pressure
over espionage concerns and the US-led campaign to persuade other countries
to ban its technology.

Last year, security concerns prompted Australia to ban Huawei equipment
from its future 5G network.

New Zealand has also blocked its largest telecom carrier from using Huawei
technology for the next generation network, while the Czech Republic has
reportedly excluded it from a 20-million-euro ($22 million) tender to build a
tax portal.

US prosecutors also are charging Huawei with stealing trade secrets, saying
it offered rewards to employees for stealing technology from other rivals.

Ren shrugged off the growing pressure.

“If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine,” he said.
“America doesn’t represent the world.”

“Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can
always downsize and become smaller.”