Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is unsurprised with the executive order and subsequent blacklisting the United States President Donald Trump signed last week which consequently crippled Huawei’s global operations by forbiding American companies from doing business with the Chinese firm.
In a recent interview with a state-sponsored media outlet from the Far Eastern country, Mr. Ren attempted to romanticize Huawei’s rise to the top of the telecom equipment market, its first major win that’s been followed by a similarly successful foray into the world of smartphones. The industry veteran and one of the richest people on the planet talked about an “ideal” Huawei has been pursuing at the expense of “individuals and families.” “For this ideal, there will be conflict with the United States sooner or later,” he was quoted as saying.
Regardless of everything that transpired, Mr. Ren is unconcerned about Huawei’s prospects in the global 5G race, having asserted the company’s technology is already too advanced for anyone to be able to catch up with it within the next several years.
The fact that Huawei expected the ban for some time now is far from unexpected; after all, the Chinese firm has been taking blows from the U.S. government for about two decades now, having been repeatedly accused of posing a national security risk.
Crisis delayed
However, the crisis that essentially only started on Sunday, after Google, Intel, Broadcom, and the like started actually cutting off Huawei from their supply chains, ended up being a short-lasting affair, at least for the time being, with the conglomerate winning a reprieve that allowed it to delay the worst-case scenario. How long that reprieve ends up lasting remains to be seen but even if Washington drops the idea of crippling Huawei for good, or attempting to do so, this isn’t expected to be the culmination of the company’s issues with the U.S. government.
Besides the aforementioned history of conflicts with both Capitol Hill and the White House, Huawei currently has two other major issues with the Trump administration; first of all, its Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Ren’s own daughter, Meng Wanzhou, is currently fighting an extradition request in Canada where she’s been trapped since December after the U.S. Department of Justice accused her of being the mastermind of an international fraud ring.
According to the DOJ, Ms. Meng played a key role in obfuscating Huawei ownership of several satellite companies it then used for doing business with Iran, consequently breaking a number of sanctions issued by the Department of Commerce. The executive denied all accusations and described the case as political persecution, accusing the Trump administration of going after her in order to put pressure on China and gain extra leverage in its trade negotiations with the Beijing-based communist government.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Owners of Huwei-made devices shouldn’t be alarmed because their products will continue to receive updates and Huawei won’t be pausing any single one of its after-sales services, as it confirmed already. However, there’s a realistic chance this move will see Huawei lose its title of the world’s second-largest smartphone company it just won from Apple last year because a return of the ban suspended yesterday would likely see the conglomerate’s number annual of shipments and sales drop by the millions.