Huawei CEO Says Company Doesn't Spy For China and Praises Trump in Rare Appearance (cnbc.com) 122
Huawei would never allow China's government to access customer data, even if Beijing requested it, the CEO and founder of the company repeatedly emphasized Tuesday, amid continued political pressure on the Chinese technology giant. From a report: In a rare sit down with international media, Ren Zhengfei addressed concerns raised by the U.S. government, which has warned that the company's equipment could allow the Chinese government to have a backdoor into a nation's telecommunications network. Ren, speaking Mandarin and using a company-provided translator, told the group that Huawei has never handed data to Beijing. "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," Ren told the journalists assembled at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
"China's ministry of foreign affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install mandatory back doors. Huawei and me personally have never received any request from any government to provide improper information," Ren added. [...] But Ren actually praised the U.S. president. "For President Trump as a person, I still believe he is a great president," he said. "In the sense that he was bold to slash taxes. And I think that's conducive for the development of industries in the United States."
"China's ministry of foreign affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install mandatory back doors. Huawei and me personally have never received any request from any government to provide improper information," Ren added. [...] But Ren actually praised the U.S. president. "For President Trump as a person, I still believe he is a great president," he said. "In the sense that he was bold to slash taxes. And I think that's conducive for the development of industries in the United States."
Canada (Score:5, Insightful)
After the way China has chosen to treat Canadians over there I don't need Trump to encourage North America to stop consuming Chinese goods. I can do that myself.
the most drug war loving country in the world (Score:1)
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Re:Canada (Score:5, Informative)
They originally gave him 15 years. After the Huaweii incident, they seem to have decided to give him the death sentence and had a court session with the press invited to change the sentence. Inviting the press to a court session is seldom done.
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After the way China has chosen to treat Canadians over there I don't need Trump to encourage North America to stop consuming Chinese goods. I can do that myself.
You should hear how they treat anyone from Africa. Recurring police raids at your apartment to ransack the place to look for the drugs you're obviously selling, since you're from Africa. Couple times a year, apparently. With no protection from constitution nor tradition, the police just come in whenever they feel like it, no need for any cause probable or otherwise.
I recently dumped my investments in China. With the rise of Emperor Xi they've been moving in the wrong direction on human rights.
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So you've dumped your investments from the US too as they've been moving in the wrong direction on human rights these past couple of years. (Well more than that but it's sped up specifically these past two years.)
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Yes, there's always some asshole who thinks there's an equivalence between the US and China. No one needs that asshole, and he should probable move to Tumblr.
Re:Blame Canada (Score:4, Insightful)
Murder isn't retaliation, it's trying to start a war.
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And do you also believe in Santa Klaus ?
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That hasn't been determined yet in a court of law. Even the orange guy deserves "innocent until proven guilty".
Wow he figured it out! (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow he figured it out that if you praise Trump, you get favorable treatment from him and his administration!
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Stunning ignorance. About 10 years ago it was front page news with photos showing Iran revolutionary guard commandos directing mortar and artillery fire from Iranian made weapons onto US troops on Iraqi soil.
Oh right we just need to suck their asshole and they will refer to us as the great slurper instead of satan.
Whatever transgressions Iran has made against the US is nothing compared to transgressions of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
It's not like the US is some fucking saint in any of this. CIA did meddle with leadership. The US military did shoot down Iran air flight 655 because the captain who fired the weapon wanted blood. We were allied with Saddam while we knew they were using chemical WMD against Iranians. We stood by and did nothing as atrocities were committed by allies just like we are doing in Yemen today
Re:Wow he figured it out! (Score:4, Informative)
A story about China and you bring up Iran? Obama didn't give billions of dollars to Iran, he merely allowed them to reclaim their money the U.S. had a hold upon.
I wouldn't have signed that deal either with Iran, but there are plenty of foreign policy experts both within and without the U.S. Military who supported it. You must think of them as secret Obama supporters. And what is it Trump supporters still campaigning against Obama, he's not been president for 2 years. It leads me to think you want to deflect any blame for the current situation from Trump.
Oh, and before you want argue that the Trump wants a militarily strong U.S., he was considering pulling out of NATO....just a little present for his main squeeze, Putin.
Re:Wow he figured it out! (Score:5, Interesting)
I have worked with Bosses who were like Trump. They are easy to manipulate and control, and I can normally get my way without them making any fuss, and they will often stand behind me.
Their Ego is their biggest flaw, you keep their ego happy and make them feel like they are the Big Boss man who we all love. They will most of the time give you free reign, as long after your done, he looks good.
They are actually extremely ineffective as a Boss, an most people really don't like them, because if you cross their Ego there is hell to pay. And their Ego would trump (no pun intended) and greater good thinking or long term thinking. And as an employee who is manipulating the guy you are also competing against other employees who may be manipulating him in the other direction.
Re:Wow he figured it out! (Score:4, Informative)
Indeed. Trump is a classical narcissist who thinks he knows better than his specialized advisers, and who is convinced he understands defense and geopolitical strategy better than his generals, because he is "special".
Really not intending to be polemic, but this is a very common trait among autocrats like Hitler, Stalin, Putin to a degree, though he is much, much smarter than the former about it.
Narcissists are easily influenced by flatterers and surround themselves by yes-persons, since all with divergent opinions are driven out. Again something that can be observed in the Trump administration.
BS [Re:Special Advisors!!! Oh Noes!!!] (Score:5, Insightful)
So Obama is the one who crashed the US economy via banking deregulation? Buy a real history book, dude, not the Fox Edition. (Canada avoided much of the mortgage bubble slump by having sufficient regulations. It's also true that Bill Clinton, a Democrat, contributed to problematic banking dereg.)
And T uses drone strikes also.
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I hate to speak positively for Trump, but he has created an economy which is booming, and is recession-proof. It might have stumbled here and there, but the Dow is almost recovered from the correction, and the US economy is in overdrive with no end in sight.
Not many Presidents can claim to have an economy immune to bear markets or recessions.
you make it sound like it comes for free (Score:2)
Deciding to praise Trump comes with a price. If you don't believe it tell your coworkers Trump is a great president. You might get points with some and lose a ton of others, assuming your coworkers are mostly liberal.
So when you do it either because your customers are almost entirely conservatives, or you say it because you believe it.
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Get out of California echo chamber for a minute and you'll see how ridiculous you sound.
The guy got elected President. More than "some" actually voted for him.
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Interesting, if you reread my post you'll see I'm saying that praising Trump in public -- which I've done on occasion -- comes with a price exactly because of the liberal echo chambers which I imagine many /.ers work in. I've made wrong conclusions on first glance too, proves that this is an emotional topic no matter how much one thinks he's rational.
Re:you make it sound like it comes for free (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly. Americans are stupid, period. We all learned that when GW bush was RE-elected...(if people didnt know that before with reagan, and others before that)
The american "left" (really right wing by world standards) seems to think that america is schizophrenic, or that "good" americans are being manipulated by russia. When actually, no, the american public have been pretty much racist, classist, misogynistic, genocidal and ignorant since the countries founding. There is a reason that america has that reputation all over the world, and it wasnt started by trump. He is just the epitome of what the world already thinks most americans are like.
I am sure there are the occasional "good hombres" like noam chomsky, but their numbers are like one in a million.
The real praise was... (Score:2)
Not dumb (Score:4, Insightful)
They're not dumb. They're appealing to Trump's pride, which is the smart move. He seems to be motivated by being lauded. Will be interesting to see if he moves in their direction after they've sung his praises.
Very smart man. (Score:2, Insightful)
Everyone knows the way to get what you want from Trump is to pander to his insecurities and praise him.
Turkey almost got to massacre the Kurds on that basis for example.
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communism isn't evil, but inevitably leads to a dictatorship. Communism is never reached, and will never work on a scale larger than a handful of people.
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Capitalism seems to be going down the same exact path. People are starving here in the US, just as they are in Venezuela. Problem is that failed capitalism is more common than failed socialist regimes. Take Zimbabwe for instance.
To boot, Venezuela has better health care than the US, believe it or not.
Yeah,right! Venezuela has better health care! Ha! LOL! So the fact that there's no meds isn't a problem there? The fact that people quit going because there's no reason to if they can't get help! Yeah, I'm sure all of those Venezuelans are so happy with their socialized health care right now! Really!
Yes a very small percent of people are starving in the US but ya know the WHOLE population of Venezuela has lost several pounds in the last few years and many have starved and died. You can't say that ab
Re: Famous CEO quote (Score:3)
People are starving here in the US, just as they are in Venezuela
lol
Haven't seen this kind of propaganda since the USSR fell ...
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the communist PARTY (Score:1)
whereas .... (Score:2, Interesting)
in the USA many companies are required to hand over your data.. and have done so ...
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The difference is that in China, the Chinese government has people on board of decision committes. Picture having CIA, DHS, IRS, or ICE officers in a company meeting calling the shots.
Don't forget any venture on Chinese soil has to be owned 51% by Chinese.
Totally different game. People whine about the US, but it no way compares to China's abuses.
Having Huawei not help out the government is a joke, as a Chinese business is part of the Chinese government.
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Picture having CIA, DHS, IRS, or ICE officers in a company meeting calling the shots.
That's an easy one. Do you have harder challenges?
People whine about the US, but it no way compares to China's abuses.
On the contrary. The comparison is not only valid, but also extremely useful. If individual freedom really were the core value of the US, the comparison would have been laughable. Alas, The core value of the US seems to be the corporate freedom to take away the freedom of individuals.
Re:whereas .... (Score:5, Informative)
It's not just that. Every large company has a department that is specifically there to maintain political compliance. This department has ability to displace anyone in the company and is staffed by CCP officials who are picked by CCP itself and company has no real power over.
That's why CEO of Huawei can openly state that government never made any requests like this to him. They didn't. They make such requests to CCP officials within the company who almost certainly handle the matter as an internal CCP policy that CEO has no real say in.
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in the USA many companies are required to hand over your data.. and have done so ...
In the US, there do exist avenues for companies to fight such government requests and pressure, including court fights and fights in the public media. There are also avenues for individuals to fight such requests, including leaks and sabotage. We have seen examples of such in the US, but this does not happen in China.
Although it is very likely that both the US and China put pressure on their companies to aid in international spying, the big difference is that avenues to fight or even express private disap
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Prefer Chinese government spying on me over my own (Score:1)
China's ministry of foreign affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install mandatory back doors.
If they had such a law they wouldn't tell foreign governments about it as that would rather defeat the object.
Even if such a law exists, I'm far more concerned about the UK government spying on me than the Chinese. The Chinese are in no position to harm me while my own government might arrest me on some random charge of hate speech [wikipedia.org], which these days is basically anything, and after the UK signed the UN Migration packed, objecting to mass migration can now even be criminalised. Or maybe they might lock me
Careful wording (Score:2)
.."even if Beijing requested it".
So far as I know... they do not "request" anything. They tell you to do it, and you do it. Unless you are keen to see family members vanish.
"Unwritten" Rules (Score:2)
This is one of those silent, unwritten, but well-known rule that if Beijing wants something, you comply, no questions asked. Or you wind up in a concentration camp building products out of Chinesium for us fat Yankees.
Irritating, I know, but what do you expect out of a country like that?
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Twenty five dollars for each instance that it is used, business or personal.
I heard... (Score:1)
WHY WOULD THEY EVER ADMIT IT? (Score:3)
My two cents (Score:1)
$0.01 - A CEO of a chinese technology company saying they refuse to give data to the government is extremely ridiculous and obviously untrue. The Chinese government requires by law this, in at least other instances. For example, Tesla is required to have their cars over their constantly give data to the Chinese government or they're not allowed to be in the country.
$0.01 - Praising of Trump is good TR (Trump Relations). History has shown that Trump tends to favor people who praise him, as can be seen during
Word games (Score:2)
"Huawei has never handed data to Beijing" because the Chinese government will simply take any data they want.
"Huawei and me personally have never received any request from any government to provide improper information" because it will not be a request, it will be a demand.
Bottom line here is you don't get to be a big company in China unless you work properly with government.