The United States’ ban on Huawei and some other Chinese firms might just spark some retaliation from China, even from Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei. Chinese social media users are also calling for the boycott of Apple on social media. They took to social networking site Weibo to start a hashtag campaign to boycott Apple.

 

However, in a recent interview, the CEO and founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has said he would lead a protest if China imposed a ban on Apple.

 

Zhengfei said, “That will not happen, first of all. And second of all, if that happens, I’ll be the first to protest.”

 

Over the course of the month of May 2019, analysts have speculated that the Huawei ban could negatively impact Apple as a company and its sales in China. China may decide to retaliate and put a ban on the production and sale of iPhones.

 

 

In Apple’s defence, Zhengfei says;

“Apple is the world’s leading company. If there was no Apple, there would be no mobile internet. If there was no Apple to help show us the world, we would not see the beauty of this world.”

 

He went on to acknowledge Apple as a leader in the tech space. “As a student, why should I oppose my teacher? I would never do that,” he stated.

 

Before now, Zhengfei had previously told Chinese media that he is a huge fan of Apple. He admits that he buys their products when he is abroad.

 

According to a South China paper, he was quoted as saying,

“iPhone has a good ecosystem and, when my family are abroad, I still buy them iPhones. So one can’t narrowly think a love for Huawei should mean loving Huawei phones.”

 

Clearly, Zhengfei is being a great businessman. He is maintaining a healthy business relationship with his competitor. He is doing all he can to state that he has no bad blood against both the United States and their companies.