Today's high-tech means there can be no going alone

Editor's note: Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei held an interview with foreign media in Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Jan 15. The following are excerpts of Ren's responses to questions on the company's development, trade frictions with the United States and his daughter, and Huawei Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou's detention by Canada.

Over the past 30 years, Huawei has served more than 3 billion people in over 170 countries and regions, and has kept a good security record. Huawei firmly stands on the side of its customers when it comes to the protection of privacy and network security issues.

The company invests $15 billion to $20 billion in research and development every year. Our mission is simple: We struggle for the objective of leading people to an information society.

Apple has been a good example to us. We would rather close down the company than be driven by profits to harm customers' rights and interests.

There are some countries deciding not to buy our products. But we will concentrate our attention and do our business well in the countries that are willing to buy our products, providing quality products to prove that we are trustworthy.

The co-existence of the narrow gauge, standard gauge and wide gauge has caused problems for world transportation industry. Likewise, there were multiple standards for the 3G and 4G eras. The aim now is to introduce a unified standard for 5G to lay a foundation of a smart human society.

I want to convey a message to the US through the media that as the technology becomes more and more advanced, it cannot be done by one single country, or company. Win-win cooperation among countries and companies should be the way out.

As for Meng Wanzhou's case, I believe in the openness, fairness and justice of the Canadian and US legal systems, which can give a fair conclusion at last.