Huawei: 'There's no way the US can crush us'

The founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has hit back against Trump's ban on the use of his company's hardware because of concerns about Chinese espionage, saying "there's no way the US can crush us". The US has been trying to encourage other countries to follow its lead in shunning Huawei, but the UK has said it will not stop the company -- which is due to launch its P30 range of smartphones next month -- from getting involved in the rollout of 5G networks.

Ren also lashed out at the US, saying that the arrest of his daughter and Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, was politically motivated.

See also:

• Unlike the US, the UK does not want to ban Huawei from 5G networks
• HUAWEI MateBook 13 laptop [Review]
• Huawei sacks employee arrested in Poland on spying charges

The US Justice Department has said that the arrest of Meng Wanzhou was "based solely on the evidence and the law" and that it is "free of any political interference".

Referring to the sanctions taken against Huawei by the US, Ren said: "Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable. The US likes to sanction others; whenever there's an issue, they'll use such combative methods. We object to this. But now that we've gone down this path, we'll let the courts settle it".

He remains defiant in the face of adversity, saying:

There's no way the US can crush us. The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit.

Just as the UK has indicated a level of trust in Huawei, so Huawei indicates that the feeling is mutual. Speaking to the BBC, Ren said:

We still trust in the UK, and we hope that the UK will trust us even more. We will invest even more in the UK. Because if the US doesn't trust us, then we will shift our investment from the US to the UK on an even bigger scale.

Huawei has repeatedly denies suggestions that it is spying on behalf of the Chinese government, insisting that it is a private company with no state ties and no interest in espionage.

Image credit: Poring / Shutterstock