Huawei’s founder and president Ren Zhengfei remained silent in public while his company suffered a terrible 2018, including bans and warnings against its products in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
He even kept quiet when his daughter, Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada.
But just days after a Huawei executive was arrested in Poland on allegations of spying, he broke his silence, defending his company and praising US President Donald Trump during a rare interview with foreign media.
The 13-page transcript of the discussion, translated by Huawei, sheds new light on the reclusive billionaire.
He wants to emulate Apple and Steve Jobs
The United States and other Western governments have been wary of Huawei for years, concerned that the company is ultimately under the authority of the Chinese government.
Asked what Huawei would do if the Chinese government asked the company for information on a foreign country, Ren pointed to Apple (AAPL) as a guiding light.
“We will never do anything to harm the interests of our customers. Apple is an example we look up to in terms of privacy protection. We will learn from Apple,” he said.
In 2016, Apple refused to help the FBI break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, calling the directive “an overreach by the US government.” The FBI instead purchased a tool from a third-party that let it hack into the device.
Huawei has repeatedly dismissed concerns that its products pose a national security risk and maintains that the company is completely owned by its employees.
Ren said he personally owns 1.14% of Huawei, but hinted that he could follow Apple founder Steve Jobs’ example and reduce his stake. Jobs reportedly sold nearly all of his shares in Apple after he was forced out of the company in the 1980s, and again in the 1990s when he lost faith in the company’s direction.
“The stake that Steve Jobs had in Apple was 0.58%. That means there is still potential for my stake to be further diluted. I should learn from Steve Jobs,” he said.
He’s willing to shut down Huawei
Ren spent years building Huawei into a multi-billion dollar global smartphone and telecommunications equipment company.
But he said he would rather shutter the business than submit to any request by the Chinese government to spy on its behalf.
“We will certainly say no to any such request,” said Ren.
“We would rather shut Huawei down than do anything that would damage the interests of our customers in order to seek our own gains,” he said.
He’s not close to his three children
Ren’s daughter was thrust into the middle of a diplomatic storm when she was arrested in Canada at the request of US authorities last month on suspicion of breaking sanctions on Iran. Meng was released on bail, and remains under house arrest in Vancouver, where she is due back in court on February 6.
Although he said he misses her very much, Ren was ambivalent about his relationship with his daughter.
“It’s a close relationship in some aspects and not so close in others,” he said.
“Throughout her childhood, I was in the military, which means that each year I was away for 11 months, spending one month with my family,” he said. “Our connection during her childhood and adolescence was not that strong.”
In later years, he said, he was fighting for the survival of Huawei, regularly working 16-hour days. He admitted that he is not close to any of his three children, but feels indebted to them.
He wants to live forever
When asked when he will retire from Huawei, 74-year-old Ren made a crack about immortality.
“The timing of my retirement will depend on when Google can invent a new medicine that will allow people to live forever. I’m waiting for that medicine,” he said.
Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) and other Silicon Valley companies have bet big on research and technology that can one day “make death optional.”
Ren seems keen to stay around as long as possible.
Underscoring his company’s commitment to clients, he talked about a visit he made to a remote Himalayan village near Mount Everest.
“I told everyone that, if I’m personally afraid of death, how could I motivate my people to charge forward?”
