9:40 pm
Feb 25, 2011

China Real Time

Huawei’s PR Strategy: Everything But the Boss

    • http://www.gnxp.com/wp/2011/02/03/trust/
      American are naturally not trusting as Chinese. But still way better than a lot of low IQ nations. Nee improvement.

    • I think anyone with a brain, Huawei included, should know by now that the US will be paranoid when it come to any Chinese company no matter what you do, its the psychology of dying empires and it will both be caused and be the cause of its eventual demise. In contrast, Boeing is an official arms contractor for the US government but Beijing knows still does business with it, simply because only fools would put all its eggs in one basket.

    • One would think that a company shouldn´t have to go on a PR campain to be able to invest in small bankrupt companies in the US. In a state which upholds law and fairness it should be the courts job to make a fair decision based on hard facts, facts or proves I have not seen produced in the Huawei case. Do I understand it right that you are blaming the victim for a misscariage of justice?

    • The writer of this article is indeed very stupid. In US and many other countries, there are lots of ex. army officers becoming important figures in companies without any problem. Jesus! how stupid can these racist people have become.

    • “The 66-year-old is at the center of the suspicions about Huawei and its alleged ties to the People’s Liberation Army, thanks in large part to his nine-year stint in the PLA in the late 1970s and early 1980s.”

      China should carefully examine the background of the CEOs of those US companies doing business in China. If any of them had served in US military, then it’s fair to put the company into a black list.

    • This article is stupid. Readers should be aware that WSJ is brain wishing naive American and preaching hatred against China.

    • This article is indeed stupid. Mr. Ren is a low-profile CEO and he has been like that from the beginning of Huawei. Many Chinese are not big talkers and so are many Chinese CEOs. Ren is one of them. It’s was hard working that makes Huawei successful, not talking.

      Ren served in Chinese military as a low-level, technical official. He was from a poor family in countryside, no special background. If a mere military experience is a problem for a company doing business in a foreign country, I guess many US companies will have problems.

    • Okay, that’s it. I’m convinced that American are paranoid tools. A guy served in the Chinese army 30 years ago. Hence, he cannot be allowed to invest or operate in the US at present. Ugh.

    • Far from being an innocuous retired military officer, Ren probably takes his orders from 2PLA. He hides because if he ever emerges from his cave his connections will become clear, even in China.

    • I can stand double-face publication, I can stand dishonest publication but I can not stand double-face, dishonest and very stupid publication such as this one.

    • There is a good reason why Ren Zhengfei’s transparency is so opaque.

    • Richard McGregor’s book: “The Party : the secret world of China’s communist rulers” is a detailed look at how to evaluate the connections between business and politics in China. Huawei may deserve some slack, like the business man who built up China’s private aluminum competitor to the state owned Chinalco.
      On the other hand it is clear from reading the book that there is good reason to be skeptical of Huawei’s independence.

    • What a bizzare argument, since all telecommunication comapnies are “in bed” with their respective governments. You just can’t do business in your own country without close government ties as it’s integrated into national security concerns, and these companies recruit ex-gov/military ppl to get an edge, it’s standard practice. Makes you think something else is going since most US media outlets keep parading the same argument over and over.

    • Pro-China posters here bray over and over that foreign companies like Google must obey Chinese “laws” regarding censorship and other bits of anti-freedom mind control. But Western laws and customs regarding corporate transparency are simply “stupid” or “paranoid” or “racist.” You can’t have it both ways.

    • Ren’s background is an old issue and only marginally relevant since military service isn’t construed as a negative anywhere else either. The more important point to be made is whether Huawei’s hardware is being used as part of China’s own supervision and monitoring program since Huawei supplies all three of China’s telecommunications companies. If it is, and it’s hard to believe that it isn’t since supervision is a legal requirement there, then Huawei needs to explain how foreign governments should trust their equipment. I wrote a post on this subject at jeffreycarr.com

    • If it comes from China, is associated with the Chinese, or is financed by China, it’s a threat to U.S. national security.
      All US tech vendors operate in China, some are hugely successful. Can you imagine China taking a similar stance and ban Microsoft, Cisco, HP, or IBM from doing business in China in the name of “national security”? Pretty silly and outrageous, I would say.

    • What is with the comments deriding the article? Perhaps some of our excessively nationalistic friends should improve their reading comprehension before attacking the authors. Unlike many writers these days, Mr. Dean avoided sensationalising the issue simply because it relates to China. And other than the awkwardly-phrased “has he ever granted an interview” line, I thought it was a very decent piece.

    • Of course this article is highly stupid. The insinuation of Huawei’s connection to the Chinese government is a downright irrelevant conspiracy theory. Huawei’s job is to provide hardware and turn-key installation which can easily be audited and US have the capacity and ability to do so. This will not go down easy on the Chinese people and we should retaliate against US business interest.

    • @JB

      What kind of talk was that. Google has always been allowed to operate in China but its manner of operations must obey the regulations governing other internet businesses in China. Google wanted to have its own special facility of bypassing Chinese censors and chose to opted out. On the other hand, Huawei was blocked in US, not because it wanted any special facility. It was blocked because it was Huawei. This US conduct simply reflected a cheap and non professional behavior based on sheer discrimination.

    • What a stupid paranoid publication. The publisher clearly has a agenda and acting as a propaganda tool.

    • Huawei knows that whatever it does, it will never be enough and the US government will never accept it’s presence. The open letter is just a stunt to expose the US hypocrisy. Too bad Chinese government doesn’t have the gut to reciprocate by kicking Cisco out, at least for the time being.

    • @Jess: The typo has been fixed. Thanks for flagging.

    • I never understand why so many people who hate the WSJ would publish their comments here. If you think it is a US propaganda, why do you read it? How about some thoughtful comments?

      As for Huawei, they are unfairly being blocked out of the US. Partly because they are in a business that the US considers strategic. What they should do, is invite those US congressmen and others to Shenzhen to see their operations. Hard to know someone when they are on the other side of the world. Most US people have no idea who Huawei is and don’t care.

    • I am SURE that millions of corporate donations to congress and poltical parties and presidential candidates do not have the US governments in corporation’s back pockets. even if it is, it is perfectly better the other way around, like those commies in china, right?
      Ren Zenfei may have served in PLA in his youth, that’s a big no no, BUT when you have former US generals in DoD retiring into executive jobs of major defence contractors and industrial companies… Oh that is extremely reassuring. and I am sure that there is no conflict of interest.
      to sum it up:
      Huawei’s problem: not enough donations to PACs and Congress!


      That’s kinda ironic, consider Motorola/CISCO/Qualcomm/Nortel has been selling routers and mobile towers in China for a long, long, looong time.
      If those freedom crushing paranoid control freaks in Chinese governement sees no fundamental problems with that arrangement in china, then why would the freedom lovin’/democratic/rational US government worry about a chinese company being a national security risk?
      the answer could only be: either those in Chinese governement are not such freedom crushing paranoid control freaks that the media made out them to be. OR the freedom lovin’/democratic/rational US government is not so freedom lovin’/democratic/rationa. isn’t it?
      or both?

    • 4G is comming and it is TD-LTE. and it is made in China.
      US will lose out when it blocks ZTE and Huawei from its shores.
      so in 10 years everyone is uploading and downloading one DVD per minute.
      folks in states would be still be using their grandma’s 128 kbps mobile connection to download some sorry apps.

    • This is a bunch of racism against the Chinese. Huawei is a great company and racist whites in the US government smear the company and prevent it from buying a $2 million dollar bankrupt and questionable tech company. Incredible racism in2011.

    • I don’t think white people will accept Huawei until it has an overpaid white CEO. May be Huawei should just buck it and hire and overpaid white guy.

    • “Bunch of racism”? Better look up the definition. I would suggest that negative reactions to China/Chinese companies are much more related to fear and distrust of the sprawling Chinese government entity (including its quasi-privatized businesses and the military organizations, naturally) than color of skin or other results of the Chinese people’s DNA.

    • It’s racism – whites do fear the Chinese…..I guess genocide against Native Americans have no statue of limitation. The Chinese are probably the only ones who can charge white people with war crimes.

    • See how US treated Japanese’s company, It is just a game.

      If US is not as open as .we expected.

    • it was so lucky that Android is US based. Can’t imagine if Android was born from Huawei. The world will getting boring because “national security”. Completely paranoid.

      May be Honhai and huawei built plant at US, then Mr Obama may take a reconsideration because create more employment….

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