A display manufacturer from Shenzhen is offering subsidies to employees who purchase Huawei smartphones while fining those who buy Apple iPhones.
Menpad, a Chinese LED screen and display hardware manufacturer, plans to provide subsidies worth 15% of the market value of Huawei and ZTE smartphones to employees who buy the Chinese devices.
Conversely, the company will require a fine equal to that of the price of the iPhone if an employee is found to be supporting Apple through smartphone purchases.
Menpad also wants to prohibit its staff from buying vehicles from US companies, though it doesn’t indicate whether joint ventures between American and Chinese firms are included in its sanctions.
The company was not immediately available for comment.
The subsidies and sanctions were included in a set of policies aimed at supporting Huawei following the arrest of the company’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou. Meng is currently being held in Canada and facing extradition to the US for alleged fraud charges related to violating sanctions on Iran. The company plans to implement the policies in the next three years.
“This is all because of Trump,” Menpad head Liu Dan said in a recent interview with Beijing News. “After restrictions on ZTE, it’s now Huawei. This is too much.” He said the new policies were released after the company’s 18 shareholders held a meeting and all agreed on the decision.
Also included is a priority to use Huawei chips and a halt on the purchase of US-made office equipment and appliances. According to Liu, six Menpad products use the Huawei-owned Hisilicon chip.
Criticized by Chinese netizens for being foolish, Liu said to the Beijing News reporter, “We [Menpad] are foolish. Are they (netizens) smarter? Do they have a better solution? If they have a better solution, I then ask them to show it.”