Huawei boss breaks silence on US block, saying 'rest of the world is big enough'

'We can withstand the difficulties from the US government' says Zhengfei

Huawei founder and president Ren Zhengfei has finally broken his silence on the US government's October 2012 suggestion that Chinese companies pose security risks.

Speaking during a company press conference in New Zealand yesterday, Zhengfei said that the US boycott "helps to promote Huawei around the world, that we are a big company that can withstand the difficulties from the US government".

Zhengfei also made the point that as its total market share in US telecoms is "close to zero per cent", he couldn't see a connection between his company and "any information security incident that has occurred in the country".

He added that Huawei will "focus on the rest of the world, which is reasonably big enough and is growing significantly", instead of worrying about its relations with the US.

Huawei sales totalled $35bn in 2012, making the firm second only to Ericsson in the telecoms infrastructure tech market. It expects to double sales by 2017, and is also a growing power in the mobile devices market, with several of its handsets set to begin infiltrating the lower-to-middle price smartphone market in the west.