Huawei blasts US criticism of its "more advanced" telecom technology

Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Chinese telecom giant Huawei has blasted US attempts to discredit the company, saying that the world cannot do without Huawei and its "more advanced" technology.

Huawei logo is seen in front of displayed flag of China and cyber code in this illustration, taken February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Ren also denounced as "politically motivated" the December arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is accused of violating US sanctions against Iran and faces an extradition hearing in Canada next month.

"We object to this," he said.

"But now that we've gone down this path, we'll let the courts settle it."

The Huawei founder has been forced to step into the limelight in recent months as the company has come under increasing pressure over espionage concerns and the US-led campaign to persuade other countries to ban its technology.

Last year, security concerns prompted Australia to ban Huawei equipment from its future 5G network.

New Zealand has also blocked its largest telecom carrier from using Huawei technology for the next generation network, while the Czech Republic has reportedly excluded the Chinese company from a 20-million-euro tender to build a tax portal.

But on Monday, the Financial Times reported that the UK National Cyber Security Center concluded that there “are ways to limit risks from using Huawei in future 5G ultra-fast networks,” in spite of US concerns that Huawei technology could help China conduct espionage or cyber sabotage.

Meanwhile, the head of China’s Huawei Technologies in Germany told German newspaper Handlesblatt that the Chinese government does not get involved in the company’s business, saying the firm would work on being “open and transparent” in the debate about security of mobile networks.

“The state does not have a stake in Huawei and it keeps out of our business,” Dennis Zuo, the head of Huawei’s German business told the newspaper.

Over the past year, Germany, the UK, Poland and other countries faced US pressure to end Huawei’s participation in the revamping of the internet structure in their countries.