Huawei looks like it’s trying to foster a newfound friendship with the United States, despite their recent history with each other.
(Photo : Li Yang/China News Service via Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 16: People visit the Huawei booth during the Viva Technology conference at Porte de Versailles exhibition center on June 16, 2021 in Paris, France.
Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei is urging the company to keep growing in international markets, remain open, and actually learn from the United States on the science and technology front, according to the South China Morning Post.
According to Ren, Huawei should focus on keeping itself open to the United States because China is a part of the global economy. An employee asked him during a company forum to focus on the domestic market instead of the West, given the recent U.S. government sanctions.
Ren further comments that just because the U.S. has been a little antagonistic to them lately, it doesn’t mean that Huawei should stop learning from the Americans, given their strong footing in the science and tech industry.
In recent years, Huawei has been feeling the heat from US-China tensions due to certain security issues involving the company’s hardware products. As a result, Ren also urged Huawei to shift to software sales to counter U.S. sanctions, as reported by Reuters.
It’s worth noting that the Chinese telco provider has been making steady progress into the Western tech space, which has alarmed the American government. However, other developed countries (particularly the U.K.) don’t consider Huawei as a “threat” even if the company is already establishing a beachhead in the European market–they already have plans to open manufacturing facilities in France by 2023.
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Huawei Vs. the U.S.: Brewing Tensions
For the uninitiated, Huawei and the U.S. government have had tense moments in the past, with the latter pointing to potential “national security threats” that the Chinese telco brings to the table.
The thing is, not a lot of Americans even know about Huawei in the first place. According to the L.A. Times, the Chinese telco has been relatively obsessed with secrecy since it was founded in 1987. Also, there’s been a history of the U.S. banning the sale of Huawei products. As a result, the brand itself is more well-known in Asia than in the West.
U.S. sanctions have also been pretty tough on the telco, with them severely restricting the company’s access to American-made chips. The Trump administration has also been known to pressure other countries to stop Huawei from building their 5G networks, as reported by the South China Morning Post. For now, Huawei is focusing its efforts on developing its HarmonyOS, which will replace Android on a handful of their own smartphones soon.
The Huawei founder and CEO have long tried to keep a low profile, but recent tensions between his company and the American government seem to have pushed him to come out and give his two cents. But judging from what he has said so far, his message is more or less encouraging cooperation and not isolation.
Related: HarmonyOS Will Be on Huawei Watch 3, Leak Reveals – What Phones Will Get the Newest Update?
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Written by RJ Pierce
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