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19/02/2019

Huawei Founder Says CFO Arrest Was Politically Motivated




Huawei Founder Says CFO Arrest Was Politically Motivated
There was political motivation behind the arrest of Chief Financial Officer of Chinese tech firm Huawei Meng Wanzhoum said the founder of the company Ren Zhengfei on in an interview of the BBC on Monday.  V is also the daughter of the founder.
 
"Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable," Ren said.
 
Meng was arrested in Canada by local authorities there on December 1, 2018 at the behest of the United States. the charges against Meng brought in by the US included violation of the US sanctions on Iran through bank and wire fraud.
 
The charges had not been made with any political motivation, said the US Justice Department. “The Justice Department's criminal case against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is based solely on the evidence and the law. The Department pursues cases free of any political interference and follows the evidence and rule of law in pursuing criminal charges,” spokeswoman of the department Nicole Navas said in an email to the media.
 
The US has also accused Huawei and another Chinese company ZTE, which is also engaged in manufacturing of telecommunication network equipment, of having close relations with the Chinese government. The US has banned both the companies from participating in any business deals in the US over concerns that their equipment could be used by the Chinese agencies for espionage on Americans. The allegations have been repeatedly refuted by Huawei.
 
The company will "never undertake" any spying activities, reiterated the founder of Huawei while talking about the concerns of its equipment being used for spying.
 
There is intense scrutiny by a number of western countries against Huawei, which is the largest manufacturer of telecoms equipment, over concerns of the close relationship that the company has with the Chinese government and over possible chances of the company equipment being used by Chinese agencies for spying on western countries that use the equipment. The US has also been pressing its allies to take action against Huawei and ban it from using its equipment. 
 
In the wake of such actions by the United States, the company would be downsized, Ren said.
 
"The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they (US) persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit", he added.
 
The company however would not take out its investments in the UK despite possibilities of the company facing the same fate in the country, Ren said. He added that in case of continuance of US action against the company, its US investments would be shifted to the UK.
 
"We will invest even more in the UK. Because if the US doesn't trust us, then we will shift our investment from the US to the UK on an even bigger scale," Ken sai din the television interview.
 
According to reports, voices of not imposing a complete blanket ban on Huawei form participating in the mobile networks in the country has been raised in the UK by British security officials.
 
(Source:www.ndtv.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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