Huawei: 'Survival will be our priority' in 2020

At Huawei, workers are either "tree growers" or "pit diggers" and the "heady scent of plums" comes only after the "bone-deep bite of winter".

So says a poetic New Year's message from the Chinese telecoms giant which sets out its "vision" for 2020.

But beneath the flowery language, Huawei admits life will be "difficult" after the Trump administration banned the firm from doing business in the US.

"Survival will be our first priority," it said.

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Huawei, which is one of the world's largest suppliers of 5G equipment, said sales growth for 2019 will be lower than it initially thought, rising by 18% to yuan 850bn (£92.7bn).

That compares to revenue growth of 19.5% in the previous year.

It forecasts that sales will stay under pressure in 2020 during which it expects to remain on the US Entity List.

The US has classified Huawei as a national security threat amid claims the company has "close ties to the Chinese government and military apparatus".

Huawei said the decision was based on "innuendo, and mistaken assumptions".

In its New Year's statement, the company's rotating chairman, Eric Xu, said: "The US government's campaign against Huawei is strategic and long-term."

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Image captionThe UK government is expected to decide in January if Huawei will roll-out 5G mobile networks