China won’t close its doors
▶ Huawei incident mustn’t stop collaboration: experts
China will pursue its own path in technology development by welcoming competition and further opening up its market, and will not shut its doors when facing external pressure, experts said.
Recent moves by some foreign countries against Chinese tech giant Huawei caused fears that China might take a hostile stance toward foreign investment in the country. But industry representatives have highlighted the importance of global cooperation.
Canadian authorities detained Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, on December 1, at the request of the US, which is seeking her extradition.
The arrest sparked outrage in China and led to concerns that there might be retaliation. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that multinational companies have become more nervous about sending executives to Beijing since the arrest.
However, cooperation in technology and supply chains has become vital for most industries, and China has profited from opening up its market.
China Mobile, China’s largest telecommunications firm, said at a recent company conference that it will adhere to principals of openness with its 5G standards, without setting barriers, according to media reports.
“The development of China Mobile benefits from China’s reform and opening-up and from cooperation among supply chain partners,” Shang Bing, the chairman of the company, said in a statement sent to the Global Times over the weekend.
With the next generation of wireless technologies set to reshape industries and increase connectivity, collaboration has become a major driving force for industrial growth.
“China’s technology certainly needs further opening-up. Huawei’s success has been boosted by its global talent strategy,” Tian Yun, vice president of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Since 2009, Huawei has recruited more than 300 scientists from Europe, North America, Russia and China to work on 5G research and development, the company told the Global Times in an earlier interview.
Also, by successfully attracting foreign direct investment in the past decade, China has turned itself into a global center for electronics manufacturing.
China accounts for 31 percent of global information and communications technology (ICT) goods exports, according to a report released by Singapore-based DBS Bank in April.
The country currently produces about 39 percent of global computer and peripheral equipment, 41 percent of communication equipment, 37 percent of consumer electronics and 18 percent of electronic components, the report said.
Opening-up a must
“Technology development needs exchanges. It’s impossible for any country to manage it just on its own,” Wang Jun, deputy director of the Department of Information at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The manufacturing process for Apple Inc’s iPhone can be taken as an example.
While the design of the product is based in California, the US, the core processors are made in Taiwan by chipmaker TSMC. South Korean company LG produces the displays, and the components are finally shipped to China for Foxconn to assemble it. This supply chain has become highly integrated.
“Closing up the market would definitely interrupt technology exchanges and progress. It would be an obvious setback not just for China, but for the world,” Wang noted.
In spite of increasing obstacles overseas, China’s major tech firms insist on cooperation with foreign companies, and some have said that the rising tide of populism should not get in the way of global collaboration.
“We should always learn from the US and recognize its strengths,” Chen Lifang, director of the board at Huawei, said at a recent staff meeting. “We should not let anti-American sentiment dominate our work.”
“Technology development needs exchanges. It’s impossible for any country to manage it just on its own.” Wang Jun Deputy director of the Department of Information at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges