What is in the news
The first round of the brawl has started and the U.S. is targeting Huawei, the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications network gear and the second largest smartphone brand. Huawei reached a profit of $100 billion toward the end of 2018, up from $1 billion 20 years ago, a 100-fold growth.
The U.S. worries about Huawei’s background because of its close ties to the Chinese military even though it’s still a private company, unlike ZTE, which is state-owned. The U.S. is blocking the company from network gear contracts and is convincing its allies to bar it from 5G contracts.
Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, was born in the poor rural province of Guizhou in 1944. He began his career as a technical researcher for PLA. It was said that he lost his job during military downsizing, but his ties with the military brought him to where he is today.