Huawei Twitter comments defended by economist Jeffrey Sachs, says Donald Trump ‘still wrong’
- Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs says he has no regrets about his comments defending Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou
- Washington’s policy on technology giant remains ‘misguided’, he says
Ten months after sparking a social media storm with his comments defending Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial executive of China’s technology giant Huawei, Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs says he has no regrets about quitting Twitter.
Speaking on Sunday on the sidelines of the Bund Summit, a financial forum in Shanghai, the academic said he was pleased he no longer used the platform, but had not changed his view that US policy on the company was “misguided”.
“I don’t regret at all my Twitter comments on Huawei,” he said. “I am indeed pleased that I got off Twitter. It was taking too much time. And discussions on Twitter are often much more heat than light.”
In an article titled “The War on Huawei”, which was published by media outlets around the world on December 11, Sachs said the Trump administration was unfairly targeting Meng for her alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran.
I don’t regret at all my Twitter comments on Huawei. am indeed pleased that I got off Twitter. It was taking too much time. And discussions on Twitter are often much more heat than light
Washington, he said, was being hypocritical by not taking similar action against senior executives of American companies, whose only punishment for violating Washington’s sanctions regime had been a fine.