Trump: Jen-Hsun Huang will be fine, but it’s very painful now

U.S. President Trump revealed that NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang had a phone call with him on Monday (9th) and denied knowing that Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, who was rumored to have had an extramarital affair with him, was a Chinese spy. Trump said that he believed what Huang said and believed that Huang was currently suffering great pain. He was especially worried about the harm the incident would cause to his wife and family.

CNBC reported that Trump said in an interview with the media at the White House on Monday that he was shocked by the relevant accusations against Huang Jen-Hsun. He revealed that he personally called Huang Renxun that day to express concern about his current situation and asked if he had known that Huang Le was a spy. Huang Renxun told him that he had no idea that the other party was a spy.

Trump recounted the content of the call and pointed out that Huang denied any knowledge and that he believed his statement. Trump described: "He is suffering great pain." He also said that he had read Huang Renxun's statement and believed that this incident caused him great suffering, especially because he loves his wife and family deeply.

The controversy originated from a report in the New York Times on October 29. The report pointed out that U.S. intelligence agencies have been paying attention to Alice. Huang, because she may have helped transport Huida's advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, and U.S. officials have identified her as a Chinese intelligence agent responsible for passing information to Beijing.

The New York Times further disclosed that last spring, a memo circulated among senior decision-making officials in the Trump administration citing intelligence that a Chinese businesswoman with close ties to Huang was a spy for the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Relevant intelligence shows that Beijing may use her to collect information about Huang Jen-Hsun to better understand U.S. AI chip technology, and even try to influence Huida to allow the company to supply the most advanced chips to China.

The report also pointed out that Trump received a relevant intelligence briefing about a year ago, but chose not to take action at that time. The New York Times analyzed that Trump has been reluctant to intervene in Huida chip sales because related businesses also support the U.S. stock market.

Faced with doubts from the outside world, Trump said that he had indeed paid attention to this matter for a period of time before, but it did not last long. He also mentioned that related incidents will be further investigated, and the FBI is also investigating other matters, but he believes that Huang Renxun will be fine.

As for whether he will discuss the matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference (APEC) in Shenzhen, China next week, Trump said he did not think he would take the initiative, but also expected that Xi Jinping might ask. He once again emphasized that he knew Huang Renxun quite well and believed that the other party was an upright person. He praised him for creating a great American company and had confidence that Huang Renxun would eventually survive the storm.