CEO says Huawei is prepared for US ‘attacks’

Huawei’s CEO on Tuesday said that his company was ready for any further “attacks” by the U.S. government and suggested that the divide would not split the world between two separate 5G systems.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei was “more confident we can survive even further attacks,” referring to restrictions placed on Huawei’s sales in the U.S. and the Trump administration’s efforts to convince nations to avoid using Huawei tech when setting up 5G networks, Axios reported.

Continuing, Ren suggested that the Trump administration’s position that Huawei devices and networks built with Huawei assistance posed security risks due to the company’s relationship with China’s government was not based in fact.

“Whether the world will be split in two systems, I don’t think so,” Ren said, according to Axios. “Science is about truth; there is only one truth. It is unique.”

The Trump administration implemented rules last year requiring any U.S. business that works with or sells to Huawei to apply for a license, while the House passed legislation last month that would ban the U.S. government from purchasing equipment from companies deemed to by national security threats, including Huawei.

Huawei officials said last year that they expected slower growth in the future due to efforts by the U.S. government to shut the company out of U.S. and some European markets.

“Despite concerted efforts by the U.S. government to keep us down, we’ve made it out the other side and continue to create value for our customers,” Chairman Eric Xu said in December.