AFP, Beijing :
A senior Huawei executive Thursday accused politicians abroad of trying to “harm” the Chinese telecom giant, boasting of the company’s stellar year despite concerns over the firm’s ties to Beijing.
The world’s second-largest smartphone maker and biggest producer of telecommunications gear has been under fire in recent months with the arrests of a top executive in Canada and an employee in Poland, along with a worldwide campaign by Washington to blacklist its equipment.
Several Western nations have voiced fears that using Huawei base stations and other gear could give Chinese authorities access to critical network infrastructure worldwide, possibly allowing it to spy on foreign governments.
“They think they can perhaps impact us with the noise and harm us, but we have a very good reputation, a very good reputation,” said Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business and executive director of the board.
“Some political guys are trying to influence and slow us down, but we are doing very well,” Yu said.
Huawei last year cemented its place as one of the world’s top smartphone vendors after selling 206 million handsets globally, part of the 350 million smart devices it sold.
Its consumer facing business has overtaken its telecom gear in size, Yu said, noting growth of about 50 percent last year brought revenue to more than $52 billion.
“Maybe I’m not humble but I say we are the best,” Yu told reporters.
Shrugging off security concerns, Huawei rolled out its next generation 5G chips on Thursday, with plans to unveil 5G smartphones at the World Mobile Conference in Barcelona next month.
Mobile operators have begun to roll out their 5G networks – technology that promises nearly instantaneous transfers of huge amounts of data, allowing for self-driving cars or remotely accessed sensors in an array of consumer and health products.
Huawei has invested billions of dollars in the technology, competing mainly against Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia.
A senior Huawei executive Thursday accused politicians abroad of trying to “harm” the Chinese telecom giant, boasting of the company’s stellar year despite concerns over the firm’s ties to Beijing.
The world’s second-largest smartphone maker and biggest producer of telecommunications gear has been under fire in recent months with the arrests of a top executive in Canada and an employee in Poland, along with a worldwide campaign by Washington to blacklist its equipment.
Several Western nations have voiced fears that using Huawei base stations and other gear could give Chinese authorities access to critical network infrastructure worldwide, possibly allowing it to spy on foreign governments.
“They think they can perhaps impact us with the noise and harm us, but we have a very good reputation, a very good reputation,” said Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business and executive director of the board.
“Some political guys are trying to influence and slow us down, but we are doing very well,” Yu said.
Huawei last year cemented its place as one of the world’s top smartphone vendors after selling 206 million handsets globally, part of the 350 million smart devices it sold.
Its consumer facing business has overtaken its telecom gear in size, Yu said, noting growth of about 50 percent last year brought revenue to more than $52 billion.
“Maybe I’m not humble but I say we are the best,” Yu told reporters.
Shrugging off security concerns, Huawei rolled out its next generation 5G chips on Thursday, with plans to unveil 5G smartphones at the World Mobile Conference in Barcelona next month.
Mobile operators have begun to roll out their 5G networks – technology that promises nearly instantaneous transfers of huge amounts of data, allowing for self-driving cars or remotely accessed sensors in an array of consumer and health products.
Huawei has invested billions of dollars in the technology, competing mainly against Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia.
