Huawei: US can’t crush us

THE defiant founder of Chinese giant Huawei said there is ‘no way the US can crush’ the company.

Ren Zhengfei said the telecoms firm would never allow its equipment to be used for spying and played down its links with the Chinese communist government.

The 74-year-old also claimed the arrest of his daughter, company finance chief Meng Wanzhou, 47, in Canada 11 weeks ago – at the request of American officials – was a ‘politically motivated’ act.

It comes after the US warned allies including Britain that Huawei’s equipment could potentially be tapped by China.

Washington has also accused Huawei of stealing American trade secrets and trying to sidestep sanctions placed on Iran.

Ren told the BBC: ‘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. Now that we’ve gone down this path, we’ll let the courts settle it.’

He added: ‘There’s no way the US can crush us. The world cannot leave us, because we are more advanced.’

In the UK, Huawei supplies equipment used in mobile and internet networks.

Ren said: ‘Our company will never undertake any spying activities. If we have any such actions, I’ll shut the company down.

‘We still trust in the UK, and we hope that the UK will trust us even more.

‘If the US doesn’t trust us, then we will shift our investment from the US to the UK on an even bigger scale.’