Huawei president says CFO arrest resulted in Canada, Huawei becoming victims

Huawei’s president Ren Zhengfei said his daughter and the company’s global CFO were in the market for another job when Vancouver authorities arrested her in December.

Ren told CTV in an exclusive interview that the two became close after her arrest, adding that she wasn’t able to handle setbacks well in the past.

“One month before that arrest, she wanted to resign and find a job elsewhere. She was not happy working here but after being arrested this matter improved our relationship and now she understands how difficult life can be,” he said.

“In the past, she had a smooth path. She couldn’t take the setbacks very well…you have to suffer a lot before becoming a hero and if you don’t have scars, you won’t have tough skin,” Ren had said in comments that were later translated into English.

He said the two have phone calls “every other day.”

“We shoot the breeze, tell jokes, I tell her some anecdote I read on the internet. The case in Canada made my bonds deeper with my daughter,” he said.

In January, the U.S. filed 13 counts of bank and wire charges against Meng, the company and its subsidiary Skycom, alleging Meng was able to manipulate banks in order to do business with Skycom. The country alleges Skycom is an unofficial subsidiary of the telecommunications giant that is based in Iran and circumvented the U.S.’s sanctions on the country.

These charges have not been proven in court and Huawei maintains that Skycom is an independent company. On March 14th, Huawei pleaded not guilty to these charges.

Earlier in March, the B.C. Supreme Court told Meng to come back on May 8th to learn more about the details of her extradition case, which Canada said it was proceeding with.

Ren maintains that Meng has committed no crime and, in fact, the situation is resulting in both countries becoming the victim.

“Meng Wanzhou has committed no crime. She didn’t violate any Canadian rules and I think both Canada and Huawei are victims because this case hurts people in both countries and bilateral relations also suffered setbacks,” he said.

China has detained two Canadians on national security grounds and sentenced another Canadian to death on drug-related charges. The two Canadians are still being held in custody.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale is currently conducting a review regarding whether the firm will be able to provide equipment for the deployment 5G technology.

Source: Reuters