Microsoft names new China head

MICROSOFT Corp has appointed Hou Yang as its new China head to continue its development in the country and especially its growing cloud business, the tech giant said yesterday.

Hou succeeds Alain Crozier to become chairman and CEO of Microsoft China to lead its sales, marketing and operations in the country.

Hou joins from Qualcomm where he served for eight years in both the United States and in China, most recently as senior vice president of the semiconductor business — Qualcomm’s largest revenue generator in China.

During his tenure,

the business experienced “tremendous growth and more than tripled in revenue.” He led a team together with a broad array of ecosystem partners in China. Prior to Qualcomm, he spent five years at McKinsey as a leader in the tech practice.

Hou is “a transformational leader, bringing strong technology industry ecosystem partner development capabilities as well as local insight to enable customers” to “navigate future and unlock the growth opportunities” for Microsoft, said Ahmed Mazhari, president of Microsoft Asia.

Crozier had been China head since 2016, “transforming the business to deliver first-class cloud services to customers, helping them transform their own businesses for the new world of the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge,” the company said.

Under his leadership, Microsoft recently “doubled down on its investments in the region, including doubling cloud capacity in China twice during the past few years.”

The company will continue expanding and investing in China and plans to recruit an additional 1,500 people in 2021, Crozier said at an event in Shanghai in December.

Hou grew up in the northeast China city of Shenyang. He is a physics graduate of Peking University and has a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Hou will shadow Crozier until July 1, when he will assume sole responsibility.

EMBATTLED New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday he was “truly sorry” if his conduct had ever been “misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation” as he faced mounting pressure over sexual harassment allegations.

Cuomo has been harshly criticized, including by fellow Democrats, after former aide Charlotte Bennett told The New York Times that he sexually harassed her last year.

The allegations came just four days after ex-aide Lindsey Boylan described unwanted physical contact from Cuomo.

“Sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny ... I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business,” Cuomo said in a statement. “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal.”

He admitted some of his comments may have been “misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry.”

But he denied ever inappropriately touching or propositioning anyone.

Cuomo said he had called for an independent review into the allegations.

He had earlier chosen former federal judge Barbara Jones to lead a probe.

However, high-profile figures in his own Democratic Party said that was insufficiently transparent.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent young liberal lawmaker, tweeted that the “detailed accounts” of Cuomo’s accusers “are extremely serious and painful to read.”

According to the 25-year-old, Bennett, Cuomo, who is 63, said in June that he was open to dating women in their 20s.

And he asked her if she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships, the Times reported.

While Cuomo never tried to touch her, “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” she said.

Cuomo became a national figure last spring with his straight-talking yet empathetic coronavirus briefings.

They fueled speculation that President Joe Biden — then a candidate — might consider him as a running mate.

On Wednesday, Boylan said in a blog that Cuomo had harassed her when she was working for his administration, from 2015 to 2018.

Boylan, 36, alleged that the governor had given her an unsolicited kiss on the lips and suggested that they play strip poker.

And he went “out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs.”

“Every woman should be heard, should be treated with respect and with dignity,” said Jen Psaki, spokesperson for President Joe Biden.

SOUTH Korean President Moon Jae-in said yesterday that his government is eager for talks with Japan to improve relations following years of bitter feuding over historical grievances, adding that those unresolved issues should not stand in the way of developing “futureoriented” ties.

“There have been times where issues of the past weren’t separated from those of the future and became intermingled with each other. This has impeded forward-looking development,” Moon said in a nationally televised speech commemorating the anniversary of a 1919 Korean uprising against Japanese colonial rule.

“The Korean government is always ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese government,” he said.

South Korea and Japan have been struggling to repair relations that sank to their lowest point in decades in 2019 following South Korean court rulings that ordered Japanese companies to pay reparations to Koreans who were forced to work in their factories during World War II. Those rulings led to further tensions over trade when Japan put export controls on chemicals vital to South Korea’s semi-conductor industry.

Another sticking point in relations is the issue of Korean women who were sexually enslaved by Japan’s wartime military, with survivors denouncing the Japanese government for refusing to accept legal responsibility for their slavery.

Japan insists all compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations and it has reacted angrily to South Korean court rulings.

There is a risk for further deterioration of the relationship if South Korean courts eventually order the liquidation of local assets of Japanese companies that refuse to compensate forced laborers.

While Moon said Seoul will continue to support victims of Japanese wartime atrocities, he stressed the countries “must not let the past hold us back.”