Pages

Share This

Showing posts with label "Five Eyes" nations (Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Five Eyes" nations (Australia. Show all posts

Thursday, May 7, 2020

US media-NGO-politician institution weaves coronavirus conspiracy: Exclusive with Grayzone founder

Unpacking the institutional lies in the US: Exclusive with The Grayzone founder


https://youtu.be/5pgEpUm7RBI

 Grayzone reporter talks Xinjiang, COVID-19 and western mediabr 


https://youtu.be/lBz-DW0NJa4

 In recent years, the U.S. and China have wrestled on several major international issues – from human rights to international trade – that reflect as much about their differences in political philosophy as the latter's rise. CGTN's Zeng Ziyi recently talked to Ajit Singh, journalist and contributor at The Grayzone, about what he learned from reporting on Xinjiang, the role of western media, as well as what he calls the U.S.' new "Cold War" with China.

Trump's gang self-exposed: We are ALL vaccinated! Covid-19 is a CIA plot against all mankind!

https://youtu.be/Vbb-i3b7E4M

Founder of The Grayzone disputes conspiracy theories targeting China

https://youtu.be/uBp3oqTMRjs Expert: 

Suing China for COVID-19 has no basis in international law



https://youtu.be/ThWyZMoX-M4

Trump's gang self-exposed: We are ALL vaccinated! Covid-19 is a CIA plot against all mankind!

https://youtu.be/Vbb-i3b7E4M

Smoking Gun Evidence Reveals Trump Was Warned About Pandemic | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC


https://youtu.be/NaMSAXGQrTI


This is one of three parts of “US using coronavirus to escalate new Cold War with China: Exclusive with founder of The Grayzone”

1. US media-NGO-politician institution weaves coronavirus conspiracy: Exclusive with Grayzone founder

2. Unpacking lies that aim to deceive US into war with China: Exclusive with Grayzone founder

3. Bipartisan hardliners use coronavirus to escalate Cold War with China: Exclusive with Grayzone founder

Editor's Note: The Grayzone, a US-based independent news outlet, recently published a story busting the conspiracy theory of COVID-19 escaping from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, adding that it is “the Trump administration’s Iraqi WMD.”

Apart from digging into stories behind the conspiracy theories, the Grayzone also released many reports related to Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in recent months. For example, it released a report in March that stated “forced labor” stories hyped by some Western and US media and US-based nongovernmental organizations are orchestrated by the “US government, NATO, arms industry to drive Cold War PR blitz.”

To learn more about The Grayzone and its work, the Global Times reporter Liu Xin(GT) spoke to Max Blumenthal(B), an award-winning journalist and founder of the Grayzone.

GT: First, let's talk about your recent work on the stories behind the conspiracy theory. How did you investigate this topic?

B: First of all, no American outlet has invited me to discuss this latest story, where I and my colleague Ajit Singh have exposed a conspiracy theory in one of the biggest newspapers in the US, the Washington Post and Fox News, which is advanced by the president, as completely false.

We haven't been invited to debate the authors. We are not invited to debate people who favor escalating the Cold War with China. We've simply been ignored. And, at the same time, we've seen many stories in the New York Times, and other papers like Politico in the past two days about how China is advancing disinformation, and they are all sourced to US officials who are not named.

I really thank you for bringing me on. This is the only outlet that has asked me to come on board. It also shows that we are unfortunately in a kind of information war where the truth doesn't matter. The American people are not going to be exposed to the truth, and my goal with the Greyzone is to interrupt the drive to war and sanctions and hostility by simply presenting the American people and the English-speaking public with a balance, with the other side. To do so, we exposed, what we call, the lie of the day.

Every day there's a new lie, and it's advanced under the banner of, supposedly, free and independent media. But if you look at the stories, you'll often see, according to US officials, or according to this research scientist, or they'll link to an article. But, we simply go into the sources that expose what they are!
Photo: screenshot of The Grayzone

For example, in our story about how the Washington Post advanced this conspiracy theory about the Wuhan Institute of Virology and how, supposedly, COVID-19 escaped during an experiment at the Wuhan lab. One person stood out in that article, who was quoted, named Xiao Qiang. He was quoted as a research scientist, but I thought that sounds funny. A research scientist, this is not a virologist, someone who studies viruses. This is not an epidemiologist who studies epidemics. I immediately assumed this person is a Chinese dissident.

I was right! I just looked up Xiao Qiang on the National Endowment for Democracy. This is the US government entity that funds, supports, and trains opposition movements from around the world to support regime change. I quickly learned along with my colleague Ajit Singh that Xiao Qiang's whole career has been supported by the NED. This is a dead giveaway and a clear sign that something is strange about this article.

I've done extensive work on the NED. I produced a documentary about it. And, from what we've shown, it was created by the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency, under the Reagan administration, in order to do what the CIA used to do secretly but to do it openly to support opposition movements, like the movements in Hong Kong.

I'm an American journalist. I've been working for almost 20 years in the US media environment as someone who comes from the left, who opposed the war in Iraq and exposed the Bush administration's lies. And, I know about the neoconservative movement. It is the pro-war movement that moves between both Democratic and Republican parties, and it has a lot of influence in Washington.

I knew that the author of the Washington Post story, Josh Rogan, was a big part of the neoconservative movement. He had actually worked at the Japanese Embassy in the past and is someone predisposed to pushing narratives that advance the new Cold War with China. I don't present myself as a China expert, nor do I say that I'm a Russia expert. But I'm an America expert, and I know the institutions and the people that have been driving us into endless war for the last 20 years. And in some cases, I know them personally. So that gives me a big advantage to investigate such stories.

GT: We have noticed an anti-China campaign there. How did the US politicians and media work together to push this?

B: We've just seen that with the introduction of this Chinese lab theory on how US politicians and the media work together, as well as with NGOs and think tanks. I think this is a perfect example.

On April 14, it appears in the Washington Post, through a very anti-China columnist, in the opinion section. But it is under the banner of a paper that many people trust. The columnist himself admits there is no evidence to prove that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan lab, but the piece gets shared widely by Democrats and Republicans.

The following day, a similar piece appears in Fox News, which is the favorite network of President Trump and the Republican Party. This network says officially, US sources say that they believe the virus escaped from Wuhan Institute of Virology. The State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo, who is the most militaristic member of the Trump administration, also said this.

Screenshot from a Fox News report, which say sources believe the disease started in a Chinese lab.

The State Department was behind this story. They had leaked cables from the US Embassy in Beijing to reporters, claiming that there were safety issues at the lab. Actually, the cables, if you read them closely, state that these experiments, which were being done into coronavirus and SARS, were very important.

They're distorting the cables. Fox News reports this in the day. One of the most extreme pro-war Senators, Tom Cotton, appears and says, "China is responsible for every death," "China has to be punished," and "China has to be sanctioned."

Fox News opens up a propaganda blitz with all of its hosts calling for China to be punished. They're cultivating Republican opinion for the new Cold War very successfully.

You can see very clearly that the State Department leaks information to the media. The media spins the story and presents it to the public. Then, politicians issue calls for new policies of militarism and extreme hostility to China. If you look closely, in these stories, various people from the NGO sector are quoted as sort of experts. But as I mentioned before, there are people like Xiao Qiang, who are not, in fact, experts who are activists paid by the US government.

GT: Do you think the US media have objectively reported on China's anti-virus efforts? Did the biased reports prevent the American public from learning more about this epidemic?

B: Absolutely. I have not been to China. I would have to go to Wuhan and see for myself and speak to doctors and speak to people to know the response. But none of the people who present themselves as experts in the US have done this. Many of them have reasons to turn up the heat on China and to escalate with China. Some come from think tanks, which are funded by the arms industry, and some are directly funded by the State Department as well.

Others are ideologically anti-Communist. They want to break the Chinese Communist Party. Many people come to this from different directions. Some resent China because the US moved many jobs to China. And I personally think the US should manufacture goods here. We would have had a much better response to coronavirus if we were manufacturing our own masks.

But now, it is a political campaign to turn up the new Cold War and to advance Donald Trump's national security doctrine that his defense secretary James Mattis introduced in 2018, where the Defense Department declared that the US was moving from the war on terror into great power competition with China and Russia.

Immediately, we started to see more negative coverage of China. We started to see more US interest in advancing kind of human rights narratives about what China was doing to the Uygurs, for example.

Infographic: Globaltimes.cn

The conflict in Xinjiang had been going on for many years. So, why did we all of a sudden start to hear about the "supposed plight of the Uygur people" in 2019? The NED has been supporting the World Uygur Congress for decades, but why is this happening now? People in the media don't ask this question. They simply look for the new Cold War outrage because it brings readers in and it advances their careers.

Starting in 2017, because they were told that Russia had helped Donald Trump steal the election, the US public was brought into the first part of the new Cold War - a great power competition with Russia. This advanced the agenda of the National Security State and helped justify the budgets of all of these different agencies.

Then, that fell apart. It fell apart last year as the Mueller Report came out - there wasn't any proof that Donald Trump had directly colluded with Russia. And now, we have the second part of the new Cold War with China.

There is a kind of 9/11 or Pearl Harbor moment with coronavirus, where the National Security State can work through a political element. In this case, the Trump administration, which is desperate to deflect from its own failure in preventing coronavirus from coming to the US and exploding, and they can advance the second part - turning the American public against China.

US President Donald Trump addresses a news conference at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 13, 2020. File photo: Xinhua

And, if you look at opinion polls of American opinion - Democrat, Republican, left and right on China - last year compared to this year, it is amazing to see how much it has changed. It is incredibly negative right now. I think 70 percent of Americans see China as the greatest threat to the US. Last year, it was lower than 50 percent. Propaganda works!

While I'm not a cheerleader for China. I'm not claiming I'm an expert on China. I understand what's happening in my country and how dangerous this propaganda is and how dangerous a new Cold War will be to the US.

I'll give you one example because you asked about how this hurts our response to coronavirus. There was an article in the New York Times two days ago, stating that the US government is not sure whether it will allow shipments of N95 masks and other personal protective equipment into the US from China because it will advance China's propaganda efforts. Because of the widespread hatred that they have stirred up against China, we will not have this protective equipment that we need.

The only way out of the epidemic is through cooperation, because, unfortunately, we live in a globalized world where we're all interdependent. And, I don't think the US actually has the ability to completely cut itself from a powerful country like China. It's just impossible.

. Source link

read more:


US system fuels Trump team's political hooliganism: Global Times editorial

To win in the elections, there is nothing else White House can do than to pass the buck to China. And the only way to achieve that goal is to create more friction with China to keep the China-US tensions and “hold China accountable” hot topics. 

Washington's plot hard to sustain with new virus discoveries: Global Times editorial

The Trump administration will eventually pay the price for its reckless trick of passing buck to China.

US messes up manipulation of virus origin: Global Times editorial

Global scientists have never been US government puppets. The gene sequence of the novel coronavirus tells, just like more upcoming evidence, how Washington will pay for its lies. 

Pompeo betrays Christianity with lies: Global Times editorial

Pompeo has been lying. He has brought shame to the evangelical Christians in the US, misusing their trust in the Republican party. He is no doubt a degenerate politicians and despicable from the  

Pompeo's anti-China bluff strategy reveals all-or-nothing mentality to fool US voters:

Pompeo is indulging in a solo performance that has failed to adhere to the professional standards expected of a chief diplomat. His claims are not supported by scientists or reliable intelligence. It is foreseeable that this politician, who has lost his moral compass, will continue to surprise the world with his absurd theories and twisted facts.

1 million COVID-19 infections show US no super power:

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US exceeded 1 million on Tuesday, making the country the only one with more than a million infections. More than 56,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US. On Monday, global coronavirus cases passed 3 million, meaning one in three patients is in the US. The US government has failed its people and also failed the world. 

Americans to suffer from Trump's buck passing: Global Times editorial

The US response to the epidemic is undoubtedly one of the worst in the world. While the country's powerful elites should shoulder inescapable responsibility, the Trump administration's wrongdoing turn out to be mostly blameful.


Political motives behind China smears: Global Times editorial

China's achievement in the fight against COVID-19 is way better than that of the US. But China is confronting waves of accusations, which have been launched by Washington, and supported and followed by other Western countries and forces.


Pompeo an enemy to world peace: Global Times editorial

Lies may fulfill Pompeo's personal ambition, but they will never accomplish the US dreams to be "great again." Pompeo is not only a figure harmful to world peace, but also should be listed as the worst US secretary of state in its history.


Anti-virus gap with China to crush Washington lies: Global Times editorial

A country's public image is ultimately earned by its efforts, rather than empty talk or lies. Chinese people should keep calm and maintain confidence and patience.
Source: Global Times | 2020/4/26 20:33:40

WHO should probe US' virus misconduct: Global Times editorial

Since the situation is grave, we strongly call on the WHO to intervene in the investigation in the US' initial COVID-19 spread. The WHO's participation can ensure that the investigation is not distorted by the upcoming presidential election. It can also ensure that the conclusions are scientific rather than simply catering to politics. People need to see true reports that are responsible for history.
ASSESSMENT

EU COVID-19 review should avoid politicizing WHO

China welcomes and has decided to be part of WHO's global collaboration initiative to accelerate the development and production of vaccines and drugs against COVID-19 and ensure their equitable distribution.
 Washington's plot hard to sustain with new virus discoveries: Global Times editorial

Related posts:



https://youtu.be/QlhoNX5xWAA Founder of The Grayzone disputes conspiracy theories targeting China https://youtu.be/uBp3oqTMRjs

Monday, February 18, 2019

China to US: You’re lying about Huawei, unjust and immoral bullying

https://youtu.be/WdNobdkSQyA

Yang Jiechi defends Huawei at the Munich Security Conference

https://youtu.be/vuqL7fBDWrI

US trying to sabotage Huawei, ZTE and Sino-5G. Too late. Game over. China Rising Radio Sinoland

https://youtu.be/UN3cUQ2LdhQ

Related 

See more  :

It’s China’s Huawei against the world as spying concerns mount,” ...


Huawei Backlash: China Accuses 'Lying' U.S. Of 'Unjust And Immoral ...




Related Posts:



By John Gramlich and Kat Devlin A growing share of people around the world see U.S. power and influenc...

 


Reuters pic. The term 5G stands for a fifth generation — to succeed the current fourth generation of mobile connectivity that has made...

China to US: You’re lying about Huawei, unjust and immoral bullying

https://youtu.be/WdNobdkSQyA

Yang Jiechi defends Huawei at the Munich Security Conference

https://youtu.be/vuqL7fBDWrI

US trying to sabotage Huawei, ZTE and Sino-5G. Too late. Game over. China Rising Radio Sinoland

https://youtu.be/UN3cUQ2LdhQ

Huawei set to create world's first 5G train station
https://youtu.be/ZuM19FxhQI0

Read  more  :

It’s China’s Huawei against the world as spying concerns mount,” ...


Huawei Backlash: China Accuses 'Lying' U.S. Of 'Unjust And Immoral ...




Related Posts:



By John Gramlich and Kat Devlin A growing share of people around the world see U.S. power and influenc...

 


Reuters pic. The term 5G stands for a fifth generation — to succeed the current fourth generation of mobile connectivity that has made...

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Employees believe Huawei will survive widespread bans in West with ‘Wolf spirit’ culture

A true multinational - Newspaper headline:

A Huawei Technologies Co logo sits on display inside an electronic goods store in Berlin on December 17. Photo: VCG

Former Huawei employee in US laments government's 'endless assaults on the company'


○ Huawei's so-called 'wolf culture' helped it become successful in foreign countries

○ The top global telecom equipment provider has been going through a tough year in 2018

○ Chinese and foreign employees hold different views on Huawei's rapid expansion and aggressive corporate strategy

When Jason Li was assigned to the Mobile World Congress at the beginning of 2011, shortly after he joined China's Huawei Technologies, he impressed Ren Zhengfei, the former military officer who founded the company in 1987, with a presentation about the company's products in English.

"He [Ren] came to the company's stand the day before the congress kicked off and asked me where I studied before joining the company. I said New Zealand," Li said, noting that Ren immediately suggested that this newly recruited employee should fly to the UK office and help build a local talent center as part of Huawei's global expansion.

The Shenzhen-based company has experienced a rapid expansion over the past 30 years, and has footprints in more than 170 countries and regions. However, it has been under the spotlight recently as Meng Wanzhou - its chief financial officer - was arrested by the Canadian authorities in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of the US on suspicion of violating US trade sanctions.

Under pressure from the US, more governments in the West have been considering blocking Huawei's core products over security concerns, which is considered as a major setback in its development into a multinational giant.

Former employees of Huawei like Li spent years working overseas, and describe Huawei's corporate culture as a "wolf culture" that helped it become successful.

However, this "wolf culture" also sparked controversy, and might have harmed its current operations.

Arduous journey

When Li started working at Huawei's London office, he started everything from zero. From 2012 to 2014, he had traveled to over 20 countries and spent most of his days in countless hotels and airports, sacrificing much of his spare time to reach out to more foreign telecom carriers and companies.

"As soon as I left Egypt after a business trip to Cairo years ago, the country plunged into civil conflict, and some of my former coworkers were stuck in the hotel. And one time in Nigeria, we were exposed to yellow fever," he told the Global Times, referring to those days at Huawei as an unforgettable memory.

Long working hours on challenging projects with constant business trips to remote areas are common descriptions of the workplace culture at the world's largest telecoms equipment maker.

"Employees at Chinese telecom companies such as Huawei and ZTE endured hardships in an earlier stage of global expansion," Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst close to Huawei, told the Global Times in a recent interview.

Ren, the founder of Huawei, is considered one of the most successful Chinese executives during the country's reform and opening-up. He was influenced by the military theories of Mao Zedong, according to a book on Huawei's development published in April.

Like Mao's military theories, which advocated taking small and medium cities and extensive rural areas first as part of a revolution, Ren started from remote and less developed areas to avoid fierce competition with foreign rivals.

"In some countries in Africa and South America, telecom operators could not afford expensive products. They also lacked staff members for maintenance and operations. This gave more room for companies like Huawei and ZTE, which continuously assigned staff to those areas, to grow," Xiang said.

Huawei beat Ericsson and Nokia in the global mobile infrastructure market in 2017, as the Chinese company took 28 percent of the market share and became the largest mobile infrastructure provider worldwide, according to the latest industry report from IHS.

"In the early days, Huawei assigned most of its senior executives to the overseas market to explore business opportunities," Xiang said, noting that accepting these assignments later became an unwritten rule.

Lingering conflicts

Huawei's corporate culture has a long-lasting influence on its staff. An former employee who worked as a programmer at Huawei's then headquarters in Nanshan district, Shenzhen in the early 2000s said that he worked for Huawei for about one year and a half shortly after he graduated from college but the short experience there has instilled a lasting impact on his future career. He learned to be hardworking, persistent and low-key.

Even after he left Huawei, he sometimes, as if he had been brainwashed, still would read aloud the internal letters written by Ren Zhengfei circulated online to his then-girlfriend-now-wife, partly as a way to woo and impress her, and partly as a way to draw inspiration and strength for himself.

The employee in his early 40s who only spoke on condition of anonymity said he worked long hours from about 10 am to 10 pm every working day at Huawei. When he was tired, he would sleep on the mattress under his desk. "All co-workers did the same, especially the managers," he said. "When a new project kicked in, we would work overnight."

This so-called wolf spirit - a high-pressure workplace - is also known as a "mattress culture," as many of its engineers work so hard that they use blankets and mattresses to sleep at the office. And this military-style management was sometimes rejected by its foreign staff overseas, which led to deeper culture clashes.

"As far as I know about this so-called military style management, it's implementing the corporate policy in the most efficient way," Li said.

For example, when he worked at the company's London office, all the staff there were required to punch in and out every day, following strict discipline.

"Sometimes, foreign employees preferred more flexible working hours, especially when it was bad weather. But the headquarters rejected this request," he said, noting that localizing its business in foreign markets was a bumpy road over some similar daily issues.

For some foreign employees, being part of a growing Chinese company is still remarkable experience.

"I have great respect for what the company has achieved… Huawei's growth and expansion have been amazingly impressive. It was exciting to be a part of that," William Plummer, the company's former US vice president of external affairs, told the Global Times.

Plummer, who is considered an eight-year veteran bridging the Chinese company with the US government, was reportedly laid off by Huawei in April amid rising tension between China and the US.


He noted that the experience with Huawei was sometimes frustrating both "due to the US government's endless assaults on the company, and the company's inability to trust and listen to non-Chinese experts in dealing with such matters."

The company has been going through a tough year in 2018. In January, major US carrier AT&T suspended potential cooperation with Huawei in its mobile business over security concerns.

And the "Five Eyes" nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, US) decided to take aim at all Chinese telecoms equipment companies. Australia slashed its use of Chinese-made products in August, followed by New Zealand and the UK.

In particular, the US government targeted Huawei for years, as American counterintelligence agents and prosecutors began exploring possible cases against its leadership back in 2010, according to the New York Times.

Focus on own work

After Meng's arrest, several of Huawei's Chinese employees shared posts on their social media accounts to support each other, claiming that the company can definitely get through this difficult time.

"It will survive widespread bans in Western countries … and we should focus on our own work," a current employee at the company told the Global Times.

Some observers suggested that Huawei's foreign and Chinese staff, who often hold different attitudes in the workplace, may see its struggles in a different light.

Many Chinese staff work very hard overseas because of Huawei's incentive stock options. "Three years after I joined Huawei, I earned about 300,000 yuan ($43,500) a year, and my bonus was almost the same as my basic salary," said a former Chinese employee "Eric," who worked at Huawei from 2009 to 2013 and spent a year in Mumbai, India.

Working long hours is driven by growing business. Many employees understand that the better financial performance Huawei has, the more profits its employees could share in accordance to employee stock ownership plans.

However, to become a true global tech firm, Huawei will need to diversify its leadership, Plummer suggested.

As the case of Meng has entered the judicial system, some believe that Huawei's situation will get worse, even though there is no proof for the US allegations.

Looking into this dilemma, the company's aggressive and customer-centered business strategies might have helped its take over as much market share as possible.

"But in the long run, as a private company that insists on not going public, its opaque financial status also raises questions over its sustainability," Eric said.

By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times


Newspaper headline: A true multinational

Related:

Americans still covet trade with China, blame Trump administration for complicating issue

The past year was a tough year for China-US relations. From Washington DC to Iowa to Seattle, this Global Times reporter recently talked to over 50 government officials, scholars, reporters, businessmen and farmers in the US and asked them what they think of the trade war and China-US relations

Chinese diplomacy defeats US interference

China should be confident in this: As long as China maintains steady peripheral diplomacy, the US can do nothing to China and Beijing will gain the initiative in diplomacy toward Washington.

Related posts:

https://youtu.be/rqRItBZOp5g Ren Zhengfei leads Huawei Technologies, one of the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunication h...

https://youtu.be/0fDUgBJ8yfY https://youtu.be/0jnDXocDmRo http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/? from=groupmessage& isappinstalled=0 .
4 https://youtu.be/03D-0uDOj_c https://youtu.be/N8IyDSrMY3w The arrest of a top Huawei executive may spark a conflict that could cr...

https://youtu.be/pSHOSumep9E https://youtu.be/4fJKlEyEOEg https://youtu.be/N5Ta_RhsXYY American economist Jeffrey D. Sachs says ...
 

Photo: VCG China’s business people, researchers, scholars say they ‘feel the chill’ in US Growing China-US tensions have affected te...
https://youtu.be/3z58zHmz-6k https://youtu.be/17KDxqffVFI Professor Dr. Wang Former Executive of Halliburton DID HUAWEI VIOLATE .

In custody: A profile of Meng is displayed on a computer at a Huawei store in Beijing. The Chinese government, speaking through its emb..

Employees believe Huawei will survive widespread bans in West with ‘Wolf spirit’ culture

A true multinational - Newspaper headline:

A Huawei Technologies Co logo sits on display inside an electronic goods store in Berlin on December 17. Photo: VCG

Former Huawei employee in US laments government's 'endless assaults on the company'


○ Huawei's so-called 'wolf culture' helped it become successful in foreign countries

○ The top global telecom equipment provider has been going through a tough year in 2018

○ Chinese and foreign employees hold different views on Huawei's rapid expansion and aggressive corporate strategy

When Jason Li was assigned to the Mobile World Congress at the beginning of 2011, shortly after he joined China's Huawei Technologies, he impressed Ren Zhengfei, the former military officer who founded the company in 1987, with a presentation about the company's products in English.

"He [Ren] came to the company's stand the day before the congress kicked off and asked me where I studied before joining the company. I said New Zealand," Li said, noting that Ren immediately suggested that this newly recruited employee should fly to the UK office and help build a local talent center as part of Huawei's global expansion.

The Shenzhen-based company has experienced a rapid expansion over the past 30 years, and has footprints in more than 170 countries and regions. However, it has been under the spotlight recently as Meng Wanzhou - its chief financial officer - was arrested by the Canadian authorities in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of the US on suspicion of violating US trade sanctions.

Under pressure from the US, more governments in the West have been considering blocking Huawei's core products over security concerns, which is considered as a major setback in its development into a multinational giant.

Former employees of Huawei like Li spent years working overseas, and describe Huawei's corporate culture as a "wolf culture" that helped it become successful.

However, this "wolf culture" also sparked controversy, and might have harmed its current operations.

Arduous journey

When Li started working at Huawei's London office, he started everything from zero. From 2012 to 2014, he had traveled to over 20 countries and spent most of his days in countless hotels and airports, sacrificing much of his spare time to reach out to more foreign telecom carriers and companies.

"As soon as I left Egypt after a business trip to Cairo years ago, the country plunged into civil conflict, and some of my former coworkers were stuck in the hotel. And one time in Nigeria, we were exposed to yellow fever," he told the Global Times, referring to those days at Huawei as an unforgettable memory.

Long working hours on challenging projects with constant business trips to remote areas are common descriptions of the workplace culture at the world's largest telecoms equipment maker.

"Employees at Chinese telecom companies such as Huawei and ZTE endured hardships in an earlier stage of global expansion," Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst close to Huawei, told the Global Times in a recent interview.

Ren, the founder of Huawei, is considered one of the most successful Chinese executives during the country's reform and opening-up. He was influenced by the military theories of Mao Zedong, according to a book on Huawei's development published in April.

Like Mao's military theories, which advocated taking small and medium cities and extensive rural areas first as part of a revolution, Ren started from remote and less developed areas to avoid fierce competition with foreign rivals.

"In some countries in Africa and South America, telecom operators could not afford expensive products. They also lacked staff members for maintenance and operations. This gave more room for companies like Huawei and ZTE, which continuously assigned staff to those areas, to grow," Xiang said.

Huawei beat Ericsson and Nokia in the global mobile infrastructure market in 2017, as the Chinese company took 28 percent of the market share and became the largest mobile infrastructure provider worldwide, according to the latest industry report from IHS.

"In the early days, Huawei assigned most of its senior executives to the overseas market to explore business opportunities," Xiang said, noting that accepting these assignments later became an unwritten rule.

Lingering conflicts

Huawei's corporate culture has a long-lasting influence on its staff. An former employee who worked as a programmer at Huawei's then headquarters in Nanshan district, Shenzhen in the early 2000s said that he worked for Huawei for about one year and a half shortly after he graduated from college but the short experience there has instilled a lasting impact on his future career. He learned to be hardworking, persistent and low-key.

Even after he left Huawei, he sometimes, as if he had been brainwashed, still would read aloud the internal letters written by Ren Zhengfei circulated online to his then-girlfriend-now-wife, partly as a way to woo and impress her, and partly as a way to draw inspiration and strength for himself.

The employee in his early 40s who only spoke on condition of anonymity said he worked long hours from about 10 am to 10 pm every working day at Huawei. When he was tired, he would sleep on the mattress under his desk. "All co-workers did the same, especially the managers," he said. "When a new project kicked in, we would work overnight."

This so-called wolf spirit - a high-pressure workplace - is also known as a "mattress culture," as many of its engineers work so hard that they use blankets and mattresses to sleep at the office. And this military-style management was sometimes rejected by its foreign staff overseas, which led to deeper culture clashes.

"As far as I know about this so-called military style management, it's implementing the corporate policy in the most efficient way," Li said.

For example, when he worked at the company's London office, all the staff there were required to punch in and out every day, following strict discipline.

"Sometimes, foreign employees preferred more flexible working hours, especially when it was bad weather. But the headquarters rejected this request," he said, noting that localizing its business in foreign markets was a bumpy road over some similar daily issues.

For some foreign employees, being part of a growing Chinese company is still remarkable experience.

"I have great respect for what the company has achieved… Huawei's growth and expansion have been amazingly impressive. It was exciting to be a part of that," William Plummer, the company's former US vice president of external affairs, told the Global Times.

Plummer, who is considered an eight-year veteran bridging the Chinese company with the US government, was reportedly laid off by Huawei in April amid rising tension between China and the US.


He noted that the experience with Huawei was sometimes frustrating both "due to the US government's endless assaults on the company, and the company's inability to trust and listen to non-Chinese experts in dealing with such matters."

The company has been going through a tough year in 2018. In January, major US carrier AT&T suspended potential cooperation with Huawei in its mobile business over security concerns.

And the "Five Eyes" nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, US) decided to take aim at all Chinese telecoms equipment companies. Australia slashed its use of Chinese-made products in August, followed by New Zealand and the UK.

In particular, the US government targeted Huawei for years, as American counterintelligence agents and prosecutors began exploring possible cases against its leadership back in 2010, according to the New York Times.

Focus on own work

After Meng's arrest, several of Huawei's Chinese employees shared posts on their social media accounts to support each other, claiming that the company can definitely get through this difficult time.

"It will survive widespread bans in Western countries … and we should focus on our own work," a current employee at the company told the Global Times.

Some observers suggested that Huawei's foreign and Chinese staff, who often hold different attitudes in the workplace, may see its struggles in a different light.

Many Chinese staff work very hard overseas because of Huawei's incentive stock options. "Three years after I joined Huawei, I earned about 300,000 yuan ($43,500) a year, and my bonus was almost the same as my basic salary," said a former Chinese employee "Eric," who worked at Huawei from 2009 to 2013 and spent a year in Mumbai, India.

Working long hours is driven by growing business. Many employees understand that the better financial performance Huawei has, the more profits its employees could share in accordance to employee stock ownership plans.

However, to become a true global tech firm, Huawei will need to diversify its leadership, Plummer suggested.

As the case of Meng has entered the judicial system, some believe that Huawei's situation will get worse, even though there is no proof for the US allegations.

Looking into this dilemma, the company's aggressive and customer-centered business strategies might have helped its take over as much market share as possible.

"But in the long run, as a private company that insists on not going public, its opaque financial status also raises questions over its sustainability," Eric said.

By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times


Newspaper headline: A true multinational

Related:

Americans still covet trade with China, blame Trump administration for complicating issue

The past year was a tough year for China-US relations. From Washington DC to Iowa to Seattle, this Global Times reporter recently talked to over 50 government officials, scholars, reporters, businessmen and farmers in the US and asked them what they think of the trade war and China-US relations

Chinese diplomacy defeats US interference

China should be confident in this: As long as China maintains steady peripheral diplomacy, the US can do nothing to China and Beijing will gain the initiative in diplomacy toward Washington.

Related posts:

https://youtu.be/rqRItBZOp5g Ren Zhengfei leads Huawei Technologies, one of the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunication h...

https://youtu.be/0fDUgBJ8yfY https://youtu.be/0jnDXocDmRo http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/? from=groupmessage& isappinstalled=0 .
4 https://youtu.be/03D-0uDOj_c https://youtu.be/N8IyDSrMY3w The arrest of a top Huawei executive may spark a conflict that could cr...

https://youtu.be/pSHOSumep9E https://youtu.be/4fJKlEyEOEg https://youtu.be/N5Ta_RhsXYY American economist Jeffrey D. Sachs says ...
 

Photo: VCG China’s business people, researchers, scholars say they ‘feel the chill’ in US Growing China-US tensions have affected te...
https://youtu.be/3z58zHmz-6k https://youtu.be/17KDxqffVFI Professor Dr. Wang Former Executive of Halliburton DID HUAWEI VIOLATE .

In custody: A profile of Meng is displayed on a computer at a Huawei store in Beijing. The Chinese government, speaking through its emb..