Huawei founder says Trump is 'a great president', denies firm spies for China

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Huawei founder says Trump is 'a great president', denies firm spies for China

By Kirsty Needham

Beijing: The founder of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has said he puts business first, and would “definitely say no” to a request from the Chinese government to spy on western customers.

He also praised US president Donald Trump’s tax cuts for businesses and called Trump “a great president”.

Ren, 74, granted a rare interview with western business media outlets as the geopolitical crisis over Huawei worsened this week.

Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei Technologies, denies company spies for China.

Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei Technologies, denies company spies for China.Credit: Bloomberg

Canada and China imposed tit-for-tat warnings about tourists travelling to the other’s country, after a Canadian man was sentenced to death by a Chinese court for drug smuggling.

China’s foreign ministry said Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau should “stop making irresponsible remarks” after he said China had begun to “arbitrarily” apply the death penalty.

Acting foreign minister Simon Birmingham said the Australian goverment was "deeply concerned with this case".

"We expect at a level of principle that not only the death penalty should not be applied but also wherever people are in trouble the rule of law ought be applied fairly," he said.

The retrial of Robert Schellenberg was viewed by human rights observers as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in December.

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Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying dismissed the link and said “the Canadians are the ones who have arbitrarily arrested someone”.

Two Canadians remain in detention in China on national security charges and China has rejected Canada’s claim of diplomatic immunity for one of the men, Michael Kovrig.

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Asked about the arrest of his daughter Meng on a US extradition request, Ren said that he missed her, and he trusted the legal systems of the US and Canada.

The world’s biggest telecommunications equipment maker moved to sack its Polish sales director this week, after he was arrested by the Polish intelligence agency on spying charges.

The timing could not be worse for Huawei, as European countries are examining whether to follow the moves of Australia, New Zealand and Japan in banning Huawei equipment from being installed in 5G network rollouts, despite the Chinese company being a major existing mobile network supplier.

The United States has deemed Huawei a national security risk, arguing the Chinese company must cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies by law.

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“When it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection we are committed to be sided with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual," CNBC quoted Ren as saying.

Ren said there is no law in China that requires any company to install a mandatory back door to telecommunications equipment.

"Huawei and me personally have never received any request from any government to provide improper information,” he said.

Ren said he loved his country and was a member of the communist party. But he said Huawei was a private company and followed the rules of business.

“I don't see close connection between my personal political belief and our business actions we are going to take as a business entity,” he said.

Ren said Huawei, as a private company, was able to scale down to survive if the US restricted it from some overseas markets.

China and Germany will hold a meeting on finance and the economy in Beijing next week.

Germany’s decision on whether to work with Huawei is expected to be influential in Europe, after Poland’s interior minister called for a joint EU and NATO stance on Huawei. Bloomberg reported the some Chinese State Owned Enterprises had been warned against making business trips to the Five Eyes intelligence allies of the US - Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

Chinese executives should take precautions when travelling, such as only using company-issued secure laptops, the advice said.

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