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China's Huawei looks to earn faith of United States

China's Huawei looks to earn faith of United States

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 8 April 2013 13:59 IST

Chinese tech giant Huawei said Monday that it hoped to "solve the challenges and problems" it has in the United States after Washington labelled it a security threat last year.

CEO Guo Ping said the firm posed no risk to the United States, which in October said it and another Chinese telecoms firm, ZTE Corp., should be barred from contracts and acquisitions, adding it "cannot be trusted" to be free of influence from Beijing.

"Since we have never sold key equipment into the United States networks, there is no possibility for Huawei to pose a security threat to the United States," Guo told a news conference at its Shenzhen headquarters.

"There has never been any incident on our products threatening the cyber security of networks," he said, adding that Huawei products are used in more than 140 countries.

"I believe one day we could potentially solve the challenges and problems in the US," he said, adding that this could be achieved with "the spirit of sincerity, openness and transparency".

The United States' distrust of Huawei stems from what is seen as an increasingly assertive China that is pouring money into building up its military and, US defence officials have warned, its ability to potentially use high-tech means to disrupt US communications or information systems.

Huawei, founded by a People's Liberation Army engineer Ren Zhengfei in 1987, has denied any ties with the Chinese government and called the October congressional report "an exercise in China-bashing".

Ren, a secretive figure who declines media interviews, set up the firm with just a few thousand dollars and built it into a $32-billion-dollar business.

It has risen to become the world's second-largest provider of carrier network infrastructure after Sweden's Ericsson.

Guo comments came as the firm released its full-year earnings report, which showed it enjoyed a 32.76 percent rise in net profit to 15.4 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) in 2012, while revenue grew eight percent to 220.2 billion yuan.

It also said it expects compound annual growth in revenue of 10 percent over the next five years.

Ren's daughter Cathy Meng, who is Huawei chief financial officer, told reporters at the news conference she was confident of the company's growth, attributing to its "deep inside understanding" of the industry.

Huawei saw a jump of 7.2 percent in revenues in Asia-Pacific excluding China, a 4.3 percent increase in the Americas and a growth of 6.1 percent in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

China remained the company's biggest market, where it saw growth in revenue of 12.2 percent to 73.6 billion yuan.

Huawei has been trying to boost its overseas presence including a plan to open a research and development centre in Finland, and a February deal with Microsoft to offer an affordable smartphone in Africa.

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