Huawei Founder: US Cannot Crush Us

By: Yassmine ElSayed

CAIRO, Feb. 20 (SEE) - Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei, said that there is no way the US can crush the company.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, he described the arrest of his daughter Meng Wanzhou, the company's chief financial officer, as politically motivated.

Meng

"The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use (our products) temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit", he added.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the country's allies against using Huawei technology, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to "partner alongside them".

Australia, New Zealand, and the US have already banned or blocked Huawei from supplying equipment for their future 5G mobile broadband networks, while Canada is reviewing whether the company's products present a serious security threat.

"If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine. And if the North goes dark, there is still the South. America doesn't represent the world. America only represents a portion of the world, he said.

However, he acknowledged that the potential loss of custom could have a significant impact.

Mr. Ren was clear in his opposition to the US accusations. " I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable" he said.

"The US likes to sanction others, whenever there's an issue, they'll use such combative methods" he added."We object to this. But now that we've gone down this path, we'll let the courts settle it." He said.

The US is pursuing criminal charges against Huawei and Ms. Meng, including money laundering, bank fraud and stealing trade secrets but Huawei denies any wrongdoing.