Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei says world can’t live without it

The founder of Chinese telecom giant Huawei has hit back at US efforts to blacklist the company, saying defiantly that the world cannot do without Huawei and its “more advanced” technology.

“There’s no way the US can crush us,” Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with the BBC. “The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced.”

Ren, 74, also denounced as “politically motivated” the December arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is accused of violating US sanctions against Iran and faces an extradition hearing in Canada next month.

“We object to this,” he said. “But now that we’ve gone down this path, we’ll let the courts settle it.”