Exclusive | Why Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei is reading The American Trap by Frenchman Frederic Pierucci

  • A book chronicling former Alstom executive’s imprisonment in the US on bribery charges is being read by Huawei employees
  • The American Trap is the top-selling book on Chinese e-commerce sites and goes on sale in Hong Kong on Friday

Frederic Pierucci, author of the book Le Piège Américain, or The American Trap, says China has become the next big target of US extraterritorial laws, citing the cases of Huawei Technologies and ZTE. Photo: Twitter

When photos of Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei showing journalists around his office began to circulate this week, there was a book on his desk that caught the eye of the Chinese internet community. The tome, a Chinese translation of Le Piège Américain, or The American Trap, was written by Frenchman Frederic Pierucci, a former executive with French rail transport company Alstom, about his five-year-long tussle with the US Department of Justice.

The American Trap, which was released in France in January, was the top-selling business management book on JD.com and No 1 new title on Dangdang.com, two popular Chinese e-commerce sites. The book, written with journalist Matthieu Aron, goes on sale in Hong Kong on Friday.

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