US economy

China’s flagship tech event hit by Silicon Valley gaps


The Wuzhen World Internet Conference, China’s flagship technology event, opened on Wednesday with a notable absence: foreign technology executives.

The annual gathering near Shanghai is pitched as an opportunity for Beijing to showcase its tech prowess. In previous years, China has made much of the attendance of Silicon Valley leaders such as Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Google boss Sundar Pichai.

But this year’s event is being held against the backdrop of a fierce trade war between Washington and Beijing, that is largely being fought over American allegations of technology and intellectual property theft by Chinese companies. US officials are also concerned by the prospect of China establishing its dominance in key sectors such as 5G, the next generation of wireless technology, and artificial intelligence.

Steve Mollenkopf, chief executive of Qualcomm, the US chipmaker that relies heavily on the Chinese market, was the only foreign executive to speak at the opening ceremony, where he praised his hosts for carrying “an important message” and echoed President Xi Jinping’s idea of a “shared future in cyber space”.

In a change from previous years, the attendee list for the two-day event was only published at the start of the conference, with civil servants suggesting that some high-profile attendees had not confirmed their attendance.

“Foreign tech firms might feel that under the current political environment, it’s not ideal to be seen as overly cosy with China,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a Beijing-based tech market research firm.

Silicon Valley companies have often struggled to balance their desire to have a presence in the Chinese market with concerns over governance of the internet and data in the country. Google pulled out of the country in 2010 but more recently faced a backlash among staff over leaked plans to build a censored Chinese version of its search engine. Apple, has also been criticised over its decision to place a data centre on the mainland and remove anti-surveillance VPN apps from its China app store.

The US-China trade frictions have forced the organisers of the Wuzhen conference to try to present a more nuanced picture of their national ambitions, highlighting their long-term goals but without raising the hackles of critics who are anxious about Beijing’s growing clout.

State media have been told to downplay the Made in China 2025 industrial policy, which sets out sectors in which Beijing wants Chinese companies to dominate in the domestic market, and civil servants have stopped highlighting foreign talent recruitment drives such as the Thousand Talents Plan, a programme to recruit the world’s leading engineering and science experts.



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