A leading Chinese tech company plans to “learn from Apple” about how to safeguard customer information, the founder pledged, disputing Western suspicions that Chinese spy services loom over the corporation.
“We will learn from Apple,” Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei told reporters, according to the South China Morning Post. “We would rather shut Huawei down than do anything that would damage the interests of our customers in order to seek our own gains.”
Ren submitted to an extended series of questions that pertained to the relationship between his company and the Chinese government, as well as the U.S. case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng, the daughter of one of the founders, has been detained in Canada pending an American request that she be extradited to face charges of committing fraud to convince Western institutions to take actions that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.
“I miss her very much,” Ren said. “I trust that the legal systems of Canada and the United States are open, just, and fair, and will reach a just conclusion.”
Meng’s case is just one controversy around Huawei, however. Justice Department prosecutors reportedly are developing a case against the telecommunications giant that involves the theft of trade secrets from T-Mobile. The House Intelligence Committee warned in 2012 that Chinese intelligence agencies use Huawei, one of the world’s largest smart-phone companies, to spy on Westerners who use the technology.
“When it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection, we are committed to siding with our customers,” Ren said in the interview, which took place Tuesday and was transcribed by the South China Morning Post for publication Wednesday. “We will never harm any nation or any individual. Secondly, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install back doors. Neither Huawei, nor I personally, have ever received any requests from any government to provide improper information.”
Ren, who described his decision to join the Chinese Communist Party as a young man in the same interview, argued that reporters should not regard him as an agent of the state.
“I can’t see close connections between my personal political beliefs and the business actions we are going to take as a business entity,” he said. “We will certainly say no to any such request. After writing this quote in your story, maybe 20 or 30 years down the road, if I am still alive, people will consider this quote and check my behavior against it, as well as the behavior of our company.”
