Chinese telecom equipment giant says it has broken no law and will resist Washington pressure

ATSUSHI NAKAYAMA, Nikkei commentator
MAY 18, 2019 22:05 JST

SHENZHEN -- Huawei Technologies' founder and chief executive blasted the Trump administration's decision to add his company to a government blacklist, insisting the Chinese telecom equipment maker has done nothing illegal.

"We have not done anything which violates the law," CEO Ren Zhengfei told Japanese media at company headquarters in Shenzhen on Saturday in his first interview since the U.S. decision to restrict trade with the Huawei.

Ren also indicated that his company will continue developing its own chips to lessen the impact of the ban on its production. Ren said it would be "fine" even if Qualcomm and other American suppliers would not sell chips to Huawei. "We have already been preparing for this," he said.

Huawei unit HiSilicon Technologies, which mainly designs core processor chips, has made similar allusions to plans for dealing with a potential disruption in supply. In a recent open letter, President Teresa He Tingbo wrote, "We actually have foreseen this day for many years, and we do have a backup plan."

Ren also said the impact of the U.S. ban on Huawei's business will be limited, and expressed confidence in its longer-term outlook. "It is expected that Huawei's growth may slow, but only slightly."

Echoing his tougher tone in recent months, Ren also said his company will not be dictated to by Washington. "We will not change our management at the request of the U.S. or accept monitoring, as ZTE has done," he said.

The U.S. deployed a similar ban against ZTE last year, pushing the Chinese telecom company to the brink of bankruptcy.