Singling out Huawei, China’s premier defends tech rise, rejects subsidy claims

BEIJING: China’s Premier Li Qiang defended on Wednesday his country’s emergence in frontier technologies from AI to electric vehicles, rejecting accusations it was down to state subsidies, in a speech at a World Economic Forum summit in Dalian.

Singling out Huawei as having “long suffered from foreign restrictions,” ‌but without ⁠referencing the ⁠United States or European Union, which have both curbed the company’s role in critical infrastructure, Li said China’s prowess in technology and innovation was down to the huge sums its firms invest.