Huawei Technologies' founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei told Bloomberg Television that retaliation by Beijing against Apple Inc, for being blacklisted by the US, was unlikely and that he would oppose any such move from China.



When asked during the interview if China should heed calls to retaliate against the iPhone maker, Ren said that he would "protest" against any such step even if it were to be taken by Beijing.



"That (Chinese retaliation against Apple) will not happen first of all and second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest," Ren said in the interview published on Monday (May 27) by Bloomberg.



"Apple is my teacher. It is advancing in front of us. As a student, why should I oppose my teacher? I would never do that," he added.

READ: 'Don't be too optimistic': Huawei employees fret at US ban



The Huawei founder conceded that export curbs from the administration of US President Donald Trump will cut into a two-year lead built by Huawei over its competitors, but added that the company will either ramp up its chip supply or find alternatives to stay ahead in smartphones and 5G.



"We might miss our expected growth target, but we are still growing. Being able to grow in the toughest battle environment, that just reflects how great we are," Ren said of Huawei's consumer division of the business that depends on US chips and software.

The United States placed Huawei on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning US firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker and escalating a trade battle between the world's two biggest economies.

Companies like Google, whose Android operating system powers most of the world's smartphones, said it would cut ties with Huawei as a result of the ban.

Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government, military or intelligence services.



Ren also responded to critics who claim that Huawei got to where it is currently through intellectual property (IP) theft and government support.

"The US has not developed that technology so from where should I steal it?" he asked.

"We are leading the US. If we were behind, Trump would not need to make so many efforts to attack us."

As the number of companies supplying Huawei with components and software falls, Ren added that Huawei would use its own products instead.

"The US manages its own companies. The US is not the international police - they can't manage the whole world. The rest of the world decides whether they should work with us based on their own business interests and positions," he said.

"If the US imposes further restrictions on us, we will reduce our purchases from the US and use more of our own chips. If American companies have permission from Washington to sell to us, we will continue to buy from them."

Last week, Trump also, for the first time, linked a dispute over Huawei, which he views as a threat to American security, with a deal to resolve the US-China trade war.

"Huawei is something that is very dangerous," Trump told reporters at the White House. "You look at what they've done from a security standpoint, a military standpoint. Very dangerous."



Ren told Bloomberg that there was no need for negotiation over the issue.

"The US has never bought products from us. Even if the US wants to buy our products in the future, I may not sell to them. There is no need for negotiation."

