Huawei Founder confident the West will eventually buy its 5G products
January 29, 2019 Category IT & Telecom, Weekly
Huawei Founder Ren Zhengfei (74) said Huawei’s wireless and 5G solutions are world class and will solve issues many Western countries face in 5G development. He made the remarks in his first-ever television interview on CCTV. “They are foolish and will lose money if they don’t buy our products,” Ren told a CCTV reporter who asked his view on the bans some countries have slapped on Huawei equipment. “We have many things that the European and American countries need, and they will have to purchase from us,” said Ren, who added that he was confident about Huawei’s competitive position in wireless and 5G development when compared to its global peers.
Ren, who founded Huawei in 1987, has embarked on a public-relations campaign to rebuild the company’s image, speaking with at least three groups of reporters in Shenzhen, including a group interview with selected international media, a group interview with domestic media, as well as the CCTV appearance. Huawei, the world’s largest telecom equipment vendor, is facing growing pressure from Western countries, particularly the U.S., over claims it has close ties with the Chinese government. Britain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have either banned or are reviewing whether to allow Huawei equipment to be installed in their telecommunication networks.
Before January 30, a U.S. prosecutor must decide whether to formally ask Canada to extradite Sabrina Meng, Huawei’s CFO and Ren’s daughter, who has been in custody and subsequently house arrest in Vancouver since December 1 on charges of banking fraud in relation to U.S. sanctions on Iran. Her next court appearance will be on February 6, to set the date for her extradition hearing. Under the U.S.-Canadian extradition treaty, Meng’s offenses need to be a crime in both countries, or “double criminality”. Once the U.S. submits its formal extradition request, officials from the Canadian Department of Justice will have 30 days to decide whether to go ahead, but if the decision is unfavorable to Meng, she could still apply to the courts to reverse the decision. Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned that “China will take action in response to measures taken by the U.S.”.
Huawei Chairman Liang Hua also called for a quick resolution of the case when speaking to the media on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum jumped into the controversy commenting that Meng “had a strong case against extradition to the United States”, but he had to retract his comment following criticism that it was tantamount to offering legal advice to Meng and undermined the independence of Canada’s judicial process. He later added that Canada would like the U.S. not to file its extradition request. Former Ambassador to China David Mulroney called the comment “mind-boggling”. Another former Canadian Ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, said that McCallum’s remarks about how Canada would like to see the U.S. drop the case “are true but he should have kept his mouth shut”. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau subsequently sacked the Ambassador.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Rome when asked to comment on the recent problems faced by Huawei that the use of state power to smear or discredit a legitimate business is “not only unfair but also immoral”. Wang’s comments came after Vodafone Group became the latest Western company to boycott Huawei products. The British telecom conglomerate said it had suspended its purchases of the Chinese firm’s equipment for the core of its wireless networks.
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