Huawei is playing on the offensive to win supporters against the United States.

Huawei Technologies Co. used a combination of wit, sarcasm and challenge to publicly fight the US allegations that the world's largest telecom equipment manufacturer would spy on China. This is a remarkable change for a giant whose founder, Ren Zhengfei, rejects the media and avoids demonstrations of open power.

The president in rotation of the company, Guo Ping, represents the new creed. Walking through the stage, in front of hundreds of attendees at the most important conference of the telephone industry this week, began with a joke that deals directly with the demons of society: "There has never been so much interest in Huawei, we have to do something good."

Guo attacked the United States, which put Huawei in public view by orchestrating the arrest last year by the Canadian authorities of the financial director Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the founder. He urged the crowd in Barcelona to reject the use of the policy to manage cybersecurity and has drawn attention to the United States, which he says is spying on its own companies. Some members of the audience applauded.

"Prism, prism, who is the most trustworthy?", said Guo referring to the codename of the surveillance system used by the United States. access private communications from Internet companies. "If you do not answer that, you can ask Edward Snowden."

In the short time that followed the arrest of Meng on December 1, Huawei went from a besieged target to a remorseless leader for telecommunications security. Aggravated by US allegations that they would help Beijing, it has become an open enterprise that few could have imagined just a year ago. This despite the US blockade in Europe, Australia and the world.

The jury is still deciding whether the charm offensive has worked, but in recent weeks the discussion has been nuanced.

European operators have offered to help governments find a way to work with Huawei while protecting themselves from security concerns. The leaders of New Zealand, Italy, Germany and the UK have rejected US pressure. by a general ban on the products of the Shenzhen-based company.

"It seems that the United States has been affected by the skeptical responses of the UK and other governments who want to see Huawei in a more granular way," says Graham Webster, a member of the Washington-based New America research group, who studies China's digital economy.

In January, Huawei invited foreign media reporters to a roundtable with billionaire Ren, who denied the spying charges and established a connection with the Chinese government, and called Donald Trump at "great president".

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The company has created a website and Twitter account called @Huaweifacts, started strengthening its media relations teams, and promoted the new 5G technologies and its recently launched folding mobile phone. On Wednesday, Guo wrote a comment for the Financial Times in which he criticized the hacking of Huawei's servers by the National Security Agency.

"It is clear that the more Huawei equipment is installed in the world's telecommunication networks, the harder it is for the NSA to collect everything."he wrote. "Huawei, in other words, hinders American efforts to spy on who wants … it's the first reason for the campaign against us."

Guo 's speech in Barcelona seems to be pushing efforts to a new level, driven by a greater sense of urgency. On Thursday, US prosecutors in Seattle are due to detail their criminal lawsuits against Huawei, including allegations of intellectual property theft. On March 1, Canada will have to decide whether to extradite Meng, whose next deadline is March 6.

"Prism's speech was definitely different," said Webster of New America.

By mentioning the US program, Huawei could try to win supporters and remind Europe that the US does not have a flawless track record of state oversight, Webster says. Nevertheless, Western governments remain cautious about Huawei and have real security concerns, while continuing to discuss with Samsung Electronics Co. and other technology companies around the world possible options for 5G.. "If Huawei becomes too arrogant, I do not know how good he'll be going out", dWebster ice cream.