At a recent tech summit in Lisbon, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios criticized China’s approach to technology. Kratsios, one of President Trump’s closest tech advisors, asked Western countries to join the U.S. in “taking a stand” against Chinese companies involved in areas such as 5G technology and AI software.
In the last few weeks a number of countries have indicated that they plan to use equipment for their 5G roll outs, including Hungary, Finland, and Germany, with the UK set to make its decision following the 2019 general election.
Avoid “authoritarianism”
"“The larger issue we want to communicate to the Europeans is that the future of tech depends on Western democracies."
Michael Kratsios, U.S. Chief CTO.
Kratsios claimed that companies such as Huawei Technologies mirror the “authoritarianism” of the Chinese regime, and claimed that - by law - All Chinese companies must cooperate with the Chinese government’s demands for access (a claim also made recently by the German Minister of Foreign Affairs). And he reiterated that it wasn’t just about Huawei.
“Huawei is just one piece of the conversation,” Kratsios said. “The larger issue we want to communicate to the Europeans is that the future of tech depends on Western democracies to lead on next-generation technology discovery.”
Huawei still buoyant
Despite the US ban, and the call from the United States government for support from other Western countries, Huawei recently reported total revenue of 610.8 billion yuan (US$86.8 billion) for the nine months up to the end of September.
And the company has also said that of the 65 commercial 5G networks supply contracts it currently has, at least half are with European customers.
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