Huawei CEO says not surprised by US spying

The founder of China's Huawei Technologies Co said media reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on his company came as no surprise, and they would not damage its reputation among its customers, Reuters reported on Friday.

The New York Times and Der Spiegel reported in March that documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden said the US agency accessed servers at the company's Shenzhen headquarters to obtain sensitive data and monitor executives' communications.

"This monitoring behavior of the US is within expectations," Huawei's founder and chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, told reporters in a rare meeting with the press in London on Friday.

Ren added it was not just people in the US who would be interested in the activities of the group, which he has built into the world's second-largest telecoms equipment maker and third-biggest smartphone manufacturer.

But Ren said the reports would not damage the firm's reputation with its major telecoms customers in Europe and Asia in terms of the security of its products.

"The business we are doing with our customers is built on a mutual understanding between our customers and ourselves over the last two to three decades," he said. "Therefore, those things going on will not, I believe, have any impact on doing business with us. It is not necessary to believe this has a heavy burden and I believe it will pass some day."

The surveillance reports came as an embarrassment for the US because lawmakers in the country have often voiced security concerns about Huawei's networks, effectively shutting the Chinese company out of the US telecom gear market.

Ren said his low profile with the media, due to shyness, had contributed to Huawei's reputation as a mysterious company. But he has increased transparency and financial disclosure, he said, and there was little else he could do to change minds in the US.

Ren, who set up Huawei in 1987, also ruled out a stock-market listing, at least for the rest of his tenure, saying the move would not help the business.

The US opposition to Huawei has left the market to Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks.