VOLUME Ⅱ Commitment at 6,500 Meters Above Sea Level
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VOLUME Ⅱ Commitment at 6,500 meters above sea level In August 2007, Huawei helped customers build sites at 5,200 and 6,500 meters of Mount Everest. The weather on the plateau changed constantly, and the sites were frequently buffeted by wind and snow. Huawei employees broke down the loads of goods and materials needed for the sites and carried them up the mountains on their shoulders or in their hands. After ten days of hard work, the team built a mobile network that provided coverage for all major mountaineering routes and camps. Photo of a base station at 6,500 meters of Mount Everest Network cutover on a windy and snowy Christmas night During the 2010 Christmas holidays, Huawei spent months migrating wireless base stations for its customers in the Alps. During the winter, the mountain passes were sealed by heavy snow, dozens of centimeters thick. To ensure their progress, the project team and local employees gave up their holidays, battled the severe cold, and successfully completed delivery as planned. Photo by Chen Yong, from a site in the Alps Heroes are forged, not born. During World War II, the famous IL-2 kept flying even after being riddled by anti-aircraft shells and machine-gun fire from other planes. Although badly damaged, it finally made its way back home. Contents March 2019 01. Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN 01 02. Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CTV National News 31 03. Ren Zhengfei's Interview with LA Times 74 April 2019 04. Ren Zhengfei's Interview with Handelsblatt and 104 Wirtschaftswoche 05. Ren Zhengfei's Interview with Time 131 06. Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNBC 162 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN March 13, 2019 Shenzhen, China 01 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN Ren: Be straightforward and ask any questions you want. I will be very frank in my answers, including with any of your trickier questions. Don't worry. I like how frank Americans are. You aren't afraid to ask any question you want. I was a fan of the US when I was young. Today, I still believe the US is a great nation. Your advanced institutions, flexible innovation mechanisms, clearly- defined property rights, and respect and protection of individual rights have attracted the world's best talent to invest and innovate in the US. Billions of people have participated in this process. Without your openness, you wouldn't have been able to develop into the world's strongest power in just over 200 years. Matt Rivers: Well, thank you so much, Mr. Ren, for 01 sitting down with us. And the fact that you're sitting down with us, I think it's interesting. I'll be honest; I don't think six months ago maybe this interview would have happened. So why have you decided to speak more publicly now? Ren: I've always been a pretty open person, actually, but I like to focus on internal management more than external publicity. I really get US culture, and many of our company's management systems were inspired by those in the US. 02 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN We engage with the media a lot these days. Our PR department feels this is a particularly important time for us, and because of my personal influence, they have asked me to take a more active role in communicating with the media, and maybe have some impact on global audiences. So it's understandable for me to interact more with the media these days. Matt Rivers: Understood. This is the first time that 02 you've spoken since Huawei sued the United States government for blocking Huawei's access, Huawei's products for use in federal agencies. But if the United States clearly feels that Huawei products are a national security threat, does the United States not have a legitimate right to protect its own interests? Ren: Huawei has tried to keep a low profile, and we were always like a "silent lamb". No matter what others said, we always stayed silent and didn't refute what was said. When we expanded into overseas markets, some people said we were communists. Then, when we returned to China, other people said we were capitalists, because we were sharing our profits with our employees and many of our employees had high incomes. We don't know whether we are communists or capitalists, and we don't waste time trying to explain who we are. Instead, 03 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN we spend our time improving our internal management and providing better products and services, so that customers will understand and accept us. The US began attacking us more than 10 years ago; they didn't just start doing this recently. This is because they are suspicious of us. As I have just mentioned, when we began to expand into overseas markets, they believed that we were communists. So they began attacking us, but we remained silent. Recently, however, they started resorting to legal means to attack us. We now think it is necessary for us to clarify some things. Otherwise, misperceptions about us would only grow. We have prepared for months, and we want to make our voice heard. The US says we are a threat to its national security; they should provide evidence. The whole world is currently talking about cyber security. How has Huawei become the only target? Are Ericson, Cisco, and Nokia free of cyber security issues? There is virtually no Huawei equipment deployed in the US. Does this mean the US has no security issues? If it does, then the US can persuade other countries not to use Huawei equipment. However, the truth is that US networks are still unsecure without Huawei. We feel it is now time for us to clarify this issue, and that's why we have sued the US government. Our lawsuit challenges the US's law. 04 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN The US follows the principle of separation of powers, but they impose a ban on us without a trial. They are violating the very law they made. We don't know whether we will succeed or not, but we will challenge the US on a broader front. Let's see whether they have evidence or we have problems. Matt Rivers: Right. And I want to get into your 03 arguments on this a little bit later. But just speaking specifically about this lawsuit, why now? Because you are facing a series of legal challenges in the United States. Does it not put at risk or make more complicated your ability to perhaps influence getting your daughter back or hurt your standing to actually resolve your issues in the United States by filing this lawsuit? Ren: We chose this timing because the act is scheduled to take effect in August. Now is the time for us to set the record straight. As for the legal challenges you mentioned, we have indeed seen many lawsuits involving Huawei in recent years. They happen from time to time. We believe our current legal action and the openness and transparency of the US legal system will help resolve these issues. 05 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN Matt Rivers: Right. Do you feel like you have very 04 little left to lose by filing this lawsuit now, given your standing currently with the United States government? Ren: No. We still hope to provide services to the American people. The US has the world's most advanced technologies, so we hope to work more closely with US companies to contribute even more to the information society and all humanity. It's not the case that Huawei has no opportunity to work with US companies. I still see a lot of opportunities out there. But there will always be setbacks. That said, these setbacks will not impact our consideration of the US market in the future. We need to set the record straight on each issue one by one. Matt Rivers: Right. I understand what you're saying 05 about the timing of the lawsuit, but I can't help but notice the timing of the lawsuit being filed during the National People's Congress. We know this is an incredibly important time for the government. They don't like being upstaged during the National People's Congress. And yet, after your very public announcement, government officials were not only not upset, but they rushed to support it. So my 06 Ren Zhengfei's Interview with CNN question is: was there any coordination in the rollout plan of this lawsuit with the Beijing government? Ren: The timing of the lawsuit and the case in Canada was not planned. After we set the date for when the lawsuit would be filed, we decided not to invite any Chinese media outlets to the press conference, primarily to avoid diverting media attention from the session of the National People's Congress. This is a domestic event of utmost importance, far more important than ours. After foreign media reports on our press conference were massively reposted by Chinese media, government officials expressed their positions. We hadn't known this and hadn't discussed our plan with the government. We chose to resort to legal means to address our issues with the US. Matt Rivers: Can you see or understand, though, 06 why people might be suspicious? I mean, this is the most important time of the year for the Communist Party. Not only were they not upset, the government official, about your announcement, but they publically supported it.