Huawei CEO says he would oppose any Chinese retaliation plans against Apple

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During a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Huawei Technologies’ Founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei said that if Beijing has plans to retaliate on Apple for blacklisting his company, he would be the first to oppose the move. He also said that the scenario is highly unlikely. “That (Chinese retaliation against Apple) will not happen first of all and second of all, if that happens, I’ll be the first to protest,” the Huawei CEO said.

He added, “Apple is my teacher. It is advancing in front of us. As a student, why should I oppose my teacher? I would never do that.”

When asked about what effect the export limitations have on its development progress, Zhengfei concedes it cuts into the two-year lead the company has built against its competitors. But they will continue to ramp up production of its chip supply or look for alternatives to keep its lead both in smartphone development and in the development of 5G.

Huawei has consistently denied that it’s controlled by the Chinese government, military, or intelligence services, which is the issue the US has with the company. Zhengfei also refuted claims of critics that say that they got to where they are now through intellectual property theft and government support.

He said, “The US has not developed that technology so from where should I still it? We are leading the US. If we were behind, Trump would not need to make so many efforts to attack us.”

When asked what they plan to do now that more and more US companies are adhering to Trump’s orders of ending their partnerships with Huawei, the founder of the company said, “The US manages its own companies. The US is not the international police—they can’t manage the whole world. The rest of the world decides whether they should work with us based on their own business interests and positions. If the US imposes further restrictions on us, we will reduce our purchases from the US and use more of our own chips. If American companies have permission from Washington to sell to us, we will continue to buy from them.”

Source: Channel News Asia