As everyone is well aware, the US has blacklisted Huawei and other corporations from China. These corporations have quality products that are competitive with the US’s best companies Apple, Google, Facebook.
They also have hard working engineers, the enthusiasm of the youth in China and a growth rate that eats away at the US’s lead. On the surface, this is a clear attempt by the US to squash competitors. And many internet pundits are saying so.
It is not my position that the US is always right, has pure motives or any such nonsense. Nor is this about the well known IP theft of companies like Canada’s Nortel that powered these companies initial drive to the top. In fact, I think that Chinese IP theft has been long overdue and is also having some positive effect on the modernization of patent and trademark laws by bringing expensive, IP protected genius to the masses. This was the case with Chinese theft of tooth whitening. Teeth whitening used to be expensive and only performed by a dentist. Now you can buy it at Walmart for $20 and do it yourself. I think the balance between innovation and sharing needs to be completely revamped in this era of fast moving tech. So those out of the way, let me move to my main argument.
The real reason the US is banning Huawei, Xiaomi and others is due to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy. From the DoD: People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise acquired and developed by even those PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities.”
The CCP made an audacious, brilliant plan in the 80’s and that was to force local companies to “share” data and technology with “the government” whenever asked. The People’s Liberation Army PLA have since broadened this directive and now have board member seats at most Chinese tech companies.
This is quite different from hacking into companies as everyone knows the US has done and is presumably still doing. Breaking into your house, stealing your computer is quite different from living in your house, sleeping with your wife, using your bank account, your car and having all access to your personal information and network of friends.
The original plan of forced sharing of data had a part II and that was to create entire civilian tech companies that were actually military from the ground up. The US ignored this due to their ignorance and belief that “communists could never make a product anyone would buy”. The US learned the lessons of the USSR all too well and was fighting today’s war with yesterday’s battle plan.
So now we have civilian companies that are really military. From the ground up. Making and installing the backbone of the internet data streams. (where there is no security due to no one foreseeing this ever occurring) To understand how different this is from what the US is doing, imagine an underground water system where the water (raw internet data streams) can easily be seen, analyzed and anything can be added to it without being detected because all the security has been setup for the end points, ie your taps and toilets. But in this case, the water itself, the main thing you are trying to protect can be poisoned, stopped, diverted or whatever at any time.
So now we have a growing country, full of very smart, enthusiastic young people coding software, working hard to succeed, in companies that look civilian but actually are not. These young people deserve to reap the fruits of their labor.
And the rise of China is a good thing. I’m very pro China. I speak Mandarin and lived in and have been visiting the PRC since the 80’s. I want to see my friends and their companies succeed.
What is stopping them? How can we end the trade war? The only way is to dismantle this military civilian link. Truth be told, many Chinese citizens know this is slowly sabotaging their future and do not like it. Guys like Jack Ma.
They want China to succeed. They know, and Jack Ma knows it best, that the link between military and civilian must be broken. China’s tech companies must be set free from being forced to “share” data. The PLA board members must be purged.
China’s military is strong so this strategy has worked. But it cannot be allowed to continue. In a sense, the strategy is too good. No sane country can allow another country’s military to see all their trade secrets, government communications and consumer personal data. Talk about data breaches! This is by far the most serious data breach in history. All the Chinese citizens’ private data. Everything.
So it’s been good for the People’s Liberation Army. Very good. But will inevitably destroy all the work of the citizens of China. It has to. There is no way the world will allow themselves to become tributary states to a communist regime. It might be expensive, it might mean WWIII but they won’t let it happen when push comes to shove. They can’t.
It’s time for the Chinese citizens and the world at large to realize that this link must be broken. It will only get more difficult the longer we wait. The regrowth and resurgence of China’s tech industry will be amazing. Of that I’m sure.
I hope that cooler heads prevail in Beijing and the CCP starts to dismantle this link between civilian companies and the PLA. I commend the CCP for envisioning such an amazing and successful strategy but it’s time is coming to a close. The strategy’s main weakness was that it was too successful to continue. I sincerely hope Beijing will recognize this and change course.
It is not my position that the US is always right, has pure motives or any such nonsense. Nor is this about the well known IP theft of companies like Canada’s Nortel that powered these companies initial drive to the top. In fact, I think that Chinese IP theft has been long overdue and is also having some positive effect on the modernization of patent and trademark laws by bringing expensive, IP protected genius to the masses. This was the case with Chinese theft of tooth whitening. I don’t use teeth whitening but I know it used to be expensive and only performed by a dentist. Now you can buy it at Walmart for $20 and do it yourself. I think the balance between innovation and sharing needs to be completely revamped in this era of fast moving tech. So those out of the way, let me move to my main argument.
The real reason the US is banning Huawei, Xiaomi and others is due to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy. From the DoD: People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise acquired and developed by even those PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities.”
The CCP made an audacious, brilliant plan in the 80’s and that was to force local companies to “share” data and technology with “the government” whenever asked. The People’s Liberation Army PLA have since broadened this directive and now have board member seats at most Chinese tech companies.
This is quite different from hacking into companies as everyone knows the US has done and is presumably still doing. Breaking into your house, stealing your computer is quite different from living in your house, sleeping with your wife, using your bank account, your car and having all access to your personal information and network of friends.
The original plan of forced sharing of data had a part II and that was to create entire civilian tech companies that were actually military from the ground up. The US ignored this due to their ignorance and belief that “communists could never make a product anyone would buy”. The US learned the lessons of the USSR all too well and was fighting today’s war with yesterday’s battle plan.
So now we have civilian companies that are really military. From the ground up. Making and installing the backbone of the internet data streams. (where there is no security due to no one foreseeing this ever occurring) To understand how different this is from what the US is doing, imagine an underground water system where the water (raw internet data streams) can easily be seen, analyzed and anything can be added to it without being detected because all the security has been setup for the end points, ie your taps and toilets. But in this case, the water itself, the main thing you are trying to protect can be poisoned, stopped, diverted or whatever at any time.
So now we have a growing country, full of very smart, enthusiastic young people coding software, working hard to succeed, in companies that look civilian but actually are not. These young people deserve to reap the fruits of their labor.
And the rise of China is a good thing. I’m very pro China. I speak Mandarin and lived in and have been visiting the PRC since the 80’s. I want to see my friends and their companies succeed.
What is stopping them? How can we end the trade war? The only way is to dismantle this military civilian link. Truth be told, many Chinese citizens know this is slowly sabotaging their future and do not like it. Guys like Jack Ma.
They want China to succeed. They know, and Jack Ma knows it best, that the link between military and civilian must be broken. China’s tech companies must be set free from being forced to “share” data. The PLA board members must be purged.
China’s military is strong so this strategy has worked. But it cannot be allowed to continue. In a sense, the strategy is too good. No sane country can allow another country’s military to see all their trade secrets, government communications and consumer personal data. Talk about data breaches! This is by far the most serious data breach in history. All the Chinese citizens’ private data. Everything.
So it’s been good for the People’s Liberation Army. Very good. But will inevitably destroy all the work of the citizens of China. It has to. There is no way the world will allow themselves to become tributary states to a communist regime. It might be expensive, it might mean WWIII but they won’t let it happen when push comes to shove. They can’t.
It’s time for the Chinese citizens and the world at large to realize that this link must be broken. It will only get more difficult the longer we wait. The regrowth and resurgence of China’s tech industry will be amazing. Of that I’m sure.
I hope that cooler heads prevail in Beijing and the CCP starts to dismantle this link between civilian companies and the PLA. I commend the CCP for envisioning such an amazing and successful strategy but it’s time is coming to a close. The strategy’s main weakness was that it was too successful to continue. I sincerely hope Beijing will recognize this and change course.
