every Chinese person was allotted only one-third of a meter of cloth. That amount could be used only for patching. So I never wore clothes without patches when I was young. ........ Back then, China was in complete chaos ..... When we just arrived at the site, it was dozens of square kilometers, and there was no housing at all. So everyone slept on the grass. ..... shabby housing that provided little shelter from the rain and wind. It was minus 20-something degrees Celsius outside ..... This was the first time that I had learned what the world's most advanced technology looked like. ...... we learned to endure hardship. ..... Our housing was very shabby, so we constantly felt cold as it could not protect us from the wind. Just imagine, the temperature could drop to minus 28 degrees Celsius....... There was no supply of fresh vegetables at all, so we had to pickle some vegetables like cabbages and radishes we got in autumn in large concrete pots, and rely on pickled foods for six months at a time. Our staple food was sorghum. It was far from delicious....... But I was happy then, because if you read too many books in other parts of the country, you could get criticised. The factory was probably one of the few places that people could read. ....... My dream back then was to reach the military rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before China disbanded its military forces. Unfortunately, that did not happen. So I'm just a veteran without a military rank. ....... In the end, I invented that instrument.... the country was trying to find readily available examples to demonstrate that science and technology were valuable. My little invention was exaggerated into something really big and it was promoted in various media outlets, including newspapers, magazines, movies, etc. And because of such massive publicity, luckily I was chosen to be a member of the National Science Conference........ that is a time when you had to be a Communist Party member even to become the head of a cooking team in the military. I was selected to attend the National Science Conference, but I was not a Communist Party member. My supervisor felt that was really strange, so with the help of party organizations, I became a Communist Party member. The reason I was not a member was not because I did not do my job well enough. It was because of my family background....... My father was labelled as a “capitalist roader”....... for an educated person back then, an intellectual, his or her background or history would be much more complicated than that of a cadre among farmers and workers........ I was a complete technical geek back then. Today, I still love my country. I support the Communist Party of China. But I will never do anything to harm any other nation. ......... over the past 30 years, our products have been used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than 3 billion users in total. We have maintained a solid track record in security. Huawei is an independent business organisation. When it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection, we are committed to siding with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual. Secondly, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install back doors. Neither Huawei, nor I personally, have ever received any requests from any government to provide improper information............. Customer-centricity has been at the very core of Huawei's business operations since our founding. 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. ....... As Meng Wanzhou's father, I miss her very much....... We are a private company, so we are able to remain committed to our long-term ideals........ Over the next five years, we are going to invest a total of more than 100 billion US dollars into R&D. Public companies, however, are unlikely to do this ....... Our decision-making system is different from public companies. It is very simple, and we are working hard to make the information society a reality. ...... We have 96,768 shareholding employees. Just a few days ago on January 12, we completed the election of the new representatives of shareholding employees at 416 polling stations across over 170 countries and regions. ....... Eventually, we will come up with 115 representatives for all shareholding employees. The Representatives' Commission, consisting of these 115 employees, is the highest decision-making authority in Huawei, and the company is owned by our 96,768 shareholding employees. ......... There is no single individual that owns even one cent of Huawei's shares without working at Huawei. There is no external institution or government department that owns our shares, not even one cent's worth. ........ When I got demobilised from the military, my wife and I received a total of CNY3,000 as compensation from the military. At the time, a minimum of CNY20,000 was required as registered capital to start a company in Shenzhen. By pooling funds from different people, I managed to get CNY21,000 to register Huawei......... Today, the total number of shares that I personally have within Huawei is 1.14 per cent, and the stake that Steve Jobs had in Apple was 0.58 per cent. That means there is still potential for my stake to be further diluted. I should learn from Steve Jobs. ........ For Huawei employees, whether they are Chinese or non-Chinese, if they violate local laws, we'll always cooperate with the investigations. ...... Within Huawei, we have a very sound internal and external compliance management system. The idea is to prevent those wrongdoings or bad things from happening. ..... In the cloud era, our society is becoming more and more complex. If we do not govern our behaviour through discipline, we might get overwhelmed....... Some countries have decided not to buy equipment from Huawei. Therefore, we can shift our focus to better serve countries that welcome Huawei. We can build high-quality networks in those countries to prove that we are trustworthy. Therefore, it's like a peaceful race from a technical point of view, and I think that is fair. ......... we are not a public company – we aren't overly concerned about beautiful numbers, or a nice-looking balance sheet. If we are not allowed to sell our products in certain markets, we would rather scale down a bit. As long as we can feed our employees, I believe there will always be a future for Huawei. ......... right now our R&D investment averages 15–20 billion US dollars per year. That puts Huawei in the top 5 position across all industries in the world in terms of R&D intensity. In total, we have been granted 87,805 patents. In the United States, we have registered 11,152 core technology patents. We are actively involved in 360+ standards bodies, where we have made more than 54,000 proposals. ........ In terms of 5G, we have signed 30-plus commercial contracts today, and we have already shipped 25,000 5G base stations. We have 2,570 5G patents. I believe that, as long as we develop very compelling products, there will be customers who will buy them........ If your products are not good, no matter how strong you go for publicity, nobody will buy them. So what matters to Huawei more is working to streamline our internal management, improve our products, and improve our services........ Huawei is the only company in the world that can integrate 5G base stations with the most advanced microwave technology. With that capability, our 5G base stations don't even need fibre connections. ....... Those countries may voluntarily approach Huawei and ask Huawei to sell them 5G products rather than banning Huawei from selling 5G systems. We are a company that is customer-centric; therefore I think it is possible that we will sell our equipment to them ........ I think the 5G standard serves as a very good foundation for humanity to move toward an intelligent world. Arbitrarily dividing technology into two different camps will only harm the interests of the world. ...... Personally, I strongly support unified global standards....... I have one son and two daughters, and I do not think my relationship with them was very close. As a father, I feel indebted to them. I once talked to all of them, asking if they would prefer we spent more time together as a family. The alternative I gave them was that I would build a platform upon which they could grow. Their response was, alright, we would choose a platform for our professional development.......... Within Huawei, Huawei's management system is one based on processes. Processes are cold things, and I do not directly supervise Ms. Meng's responsibilities, so we don't have a strong connection in the workplace, either. ........ the message to the US that I want to communicate is collaboration and shared success. In our hi-tech world, it is increasingly impossible for any single company or even any single country to do the whole thing........ In an information society, interdependence between one another is very significant. And it is these inter-dependencies that drive human society to progress even faster. The information society we are going to see will be massive. And for any single market opportunity, it cannot be sustained or supported by any single company. Instead, it calls for the concerted efforts of thousands or even tens of thousands of companies working together......... If countries or companies are frightened, let's say, by the detention of certain individuals, then those potential investors might be scared away, and the favourable environment created by tax cuts will not perform to expectations......... We are like a small sesame seed, stuck in the middle of conflict between two great powers........ The trade conflict between China and the US has not had a major impact on our business. We are expected to continue our growth in 2019, but that growth will not be greater than 20 per cent........ some people in the West believe that Huawei's equipment is stamped with some sort of ideology. That is as silly as people smashing textile machines back during the industrial revolution, as they thought advanced textile machines would disrupt the world. ....... we have made it clear in our corporate policy and fundamental business principles that we must abide by all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, including all applicable export controls and sanction laws and regulations of the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union. ......... There was nuclear leakage in Fukushima. People were evacuated from the affected areas, but Huawei employees went to the affected areas to restore telecommunications equipment. Huawei employees risked their lives and restored 680 base stations within two weeks. ....... Meng Wanzhou also flew from Hong Kong to Japan during that time. There were only two passengers on that flight. ........ a tsunami that happened in Indonesia. 47 Huawei employees restored 668 base stations in affected areas within 13 hours, supporting the disaster relief efforts......... In a lot of African countries, there is not only war, but also very serious disease. A lot of Huawei employees have contracted malaria. A great number of Huawei employees often go to war- or disease-affected areas to do their job. ......... We're able to do these things partly because we are not a public company, so we can work truly for our ideals, and for the greater good of society. Public companies tend to focus more on their financial numbers. ......... I also visited a village near Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,200 meters, as well as the base stations nearby. I told everyone that, if I'm personally afraid of death, how could I motivate my people to charge forward?........... we shouldn't allow suspicion to confuse the facts ........ President Jiang Zemin once came to visit Huawei. That was a time when Huawei was very, very small, and the floor, made of cement, was still wet, not even dry yet. President Jiang did not give any specific instructions. ..But he did encourage us to work harder............ The only reason Huawei exists is to serve our customers. ...... If authority is not tempered by constraint, it will hinder or even destroy our shared values. .......... our Articles of Governance are designed with the idea of realising a division of authority, shared progress, and checks and balances. This will ensure that the authority flows in a closed loop, and renews itself with every circulation......... The company cannot place its future squarely on the shoulders of any single individual. ....... we must stick to collective leadership ........ we completed an election that was attended by 96,768 employees across 170 countries and regions. This whole governance structure is meant to form a new institution of authority. ........ our shared values, essentially customer centricity and customer value creation ....... We have several layers of different governance bodies. For each level of governance, the roles and responsibilities are focused and clear. There are divisions of authority, while at the same time checks are conducted and balance is maintained. That will help prevent authority from becoming too concentrated. ........ one governance body within Huawei is what we call the Core Elite Group. The members of the Core Elite Group used to be board members and members of the Supervisory Board. The Core Elite Group is intended to safeguard the long-term interests of Huawei, and also is entrusted with the authority to select governance leaders. We drew inspiration from a famous European management guru, Fredmund Malik, when we designed this governance structure. ....... Seniority does not matter when we select board members. Members of the Supervisory Board are selected based on integrity. They oversee the performance of the board members and other senior executives. ........ We currently have three rotating chairmen. Each of these takes turns to be in charge for six months. During those six months, that individual is the highest leader in Huawei. ......... The Executive Committee consists of seven executives. They will vote, and a majority must be achieved before any motion can be then presented to a plenary session of the Board of Directors. ........ I don't know exactly who my successor will be. Successors will naturally appear during this circulation, and this process of renewing authority. It's not someone that I appoint. I am not a king.......... In 2019, we might face challenges and difficulties in the international market. That is why I said earlier that our growth next year would be less than 20%, and I think our annual revenue for 2019 will probably be around 125 billion US dollars. We will not take advantage of the difficulties that our peers like Nokia and Ericsson are facing, in order to seize their market shares. I also think that the macro environment is in their favour, because there are restrictions on Huawei in some countries, but there are no restrictions on those companies. Therefore, I believe they may have more opportunities than Huawei......... Several years later at an airport meeting that I had with John Chambers, he told me that he was aware of Huawei's attitude towards Cisco at the time. ........ The country should not close its door simply because of one company, Huawei....... When unexpected huge incidents happened, like US companies that suddenly decided to stop buying Huawei phones, some people in China said we should do the same to Apple's iPhones in China. My opinion was that the Chinese government should not take similar measures against Apple in China. The national interests or policies around economic reform and opening up cannot be sacrificed for the benefit of Huawei. Even in light of the recent setbacks we encountered in some Western countries, we still support China, as a country, to become even more open. I think China can become more prosperous only when it becomes more open, and continues to press ahead with its reform agenda.
The War on Huawei
