US economy

Bill Gates: Paranoia on China is a ‘crazy approach’ to innovation


Microsoft founder Bill Gates has decried the “paranoid” view fuelling the current high-tech rivalry between the US and China, telling an audience in New York that trying to stop Beijing from developing innovative technologies is “beyond realistic”.

President Donald Trump and many American lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have voiced national security concerns over major Chinese companies such as Huawei. The global telecoms equipment maker was placed on the US commerce department’s Entity List in May, a blacklisting that restricts its purchases of American technology.

“Huawei, like all goods and services, should be subject to an objective test,” Mr Gates said at The New York Times DealBook Conference. “The rule that everything that comes from China is bad . . . that is one crazy approach to trying to take advantage of innovation.”

The DealBook conference is an event for innovative thinkers and business leaders to engage in discussions with Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Mr Gates said the US and China should take advantage of each other’s innovations, rather than turn against one another.

Microsoft has provided Windows source code to governments in the past, the billionaire philanthropist said, and those officials became comfortable with the US company’s products after examining the system. Huawei could adopt the same approach, he said.

This article is from the Nikkei Asian Review, a global publication with a uniquely Asian perspective on politics, the economy, business and international affairs. Our own correspondents and outside commentators from around the world share their views on Asia, while our Asia300 section provides in-depth coverage of 300 of the biggest and fastest-growing listed companies from 11 economies outside Japan.

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When the event moderator said the Trump administration was unlikely to consider that approach as sufficient to solve security concerns, Mr Gates replied: “Anyone with tech expertise would think so.”

Ajit Pai, who chairs the Federal Communications Commission, said earlier this month that the US must source equipment for new fifth-generation wireless networks from trusted vendors — and that Huawei was not trusted. He outlined arguments to consider the Chinese company a security threat and urged US wireless carriers to avoid buying Huawei products.

Trust goes both ways, said Mr Gates. If Washington does not trust Chinese tech equipment, why would Beijing trust American products such as a jet engine, which theoretically could be shut off remotely?

The mistrust extends to the crackdown on China-born engineers as well. In May, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers banned researchers from its peer review process if they are “interacting with” Huawei, though the professional association reversed the decision days later. In June, the US state department cut the length of visas from five years to one year for Chinese students of aviation, robotics and advanced manufacturing.

“If you are so paranoid, what about the codes that are being written by somebody whose grandmother or great-grandmother was Chinese?” said Mr Gates. “Is there any piece of software in the world that you are willing to trust?”

The FCC in May voted to ban telecoms provider China Mobile from offering service in the US over security concerns as well. The agency intends to vote this month on removing and replacing Chinese equipment from rural American wireless carriers, which currently use equipment from Huawei or compatriot ZTE in their networks.

“You should use objective measures,” Mr Gates continued, throwing up his hands. “There are people born in foreign countries who write software, honest to God.”

A version of this article was first published by the Nikkei Asian Review on November 8. ©2019 Nikkei Inc. All rights reserved.

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