Corporate China | Weibo: Xiaomi hit by Apple's Ive, lifted by Qihoo's Zhou

Publicity savvy smartphone maker Xiaomi was making awkward noises in the blogosphere this past week, as it found itself stinging from critical remarks made by a top executive at Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the company's role model. At the same time, the company got an unexpected show of support from another source, as controversial Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) CEO Zhou Hongyi defended the smartphone maker over a different brouhaha involving involving an embarrassing data security investigation in Taiwan.

In separate news, TV giant TCL (Shenzhen: 000100) Chairman Li Dongsheng was talking up a potential electronic payments alliance, with word that his company is discussing a tie-up with UnionPay, operator of China's leading electronic transactions network. Just last week I commended Li for taking some new risks a decade after two disastrous partnerships with European companies. But this latest chatter is starting to get a bit worrisome, as Li seems to be thinking in quite a few directions that are increasingly scattered and lack any common theme.

Now the company has come under fire again, this time from comments made by Apple senior vice president and lead designer Jonathan Ive, who accused companies like Xiaomi of stealing from true innovators like Apple. The criticism is especially sharp in this case, since Xiaomi's Lei Jun has long considered Apple his company's role model and likes to think of himself as China's version of Apple co-founder and tech legend Steve Jobs.

Ive's remarks came during an event in which he discussed Apple's design process, and were in response to a question on what he thought about Xiaomi. Ive reportedly responded that he didn't see the actions of companies like Xiaomi as flattering, but rather viewed such companies as thieves for stealing from innovators like Apple that poured years of work and huge sums of money into their produce development.