China moves up the value chain, to advanced manufacturing and increasingly frontier technology. Why the U.S. still claims to favor free markets.
Ren Zhengfei’s remarks to ICPC participants underscore his conviction that the global shift toward artificial intelligence is irreversible, a judgment grounded in three mutually reinforcing foundations: the underlying logic of technological evolution, the extensive validation of AI through real-world applications, and the lessons drawn from profound historical analogies. This perspective offers a clear framework for … Read more
Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat offers a systemic framework for understanding how globalization, driven by what he terms the “ten flatteners,” reshaped the global economic landscape. These flatteners—ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of the Internet to outsourcing, offshoring, and digital technologies—collectively lowered barriers to collaboration and competition, enabling … Read more
The Chinese revolutionary strategy of “Encircling the Cities from the Countryside,” famously employed by Mao Zedong against the Kuomintang, offers a striking metaphor for modern marketing. Just as Mao began by gaining influence in rural peripheries before advancing toward urban centers, businesses can adopt a similar approach by entering underserved or niche market segments before … Read more
Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) long argued that China would struggle to reach the global frontier of creativity because its political system constrained dissent, independent thinking, and intellectual freedom; in his view, China would excel at absorbing and refining foreign technologies but not at pioneering them. Yet today, China has produced notable … Read more
In November 2025, the International Collegiate Programming Contest(ICPC) Beijing headquarters published minutes from a meeting between ICPC President Ren Zhengfei, coaches, and winning contestants, revealing a stance toward the United States marked by rational pragmatism, respect, inclusiveness, and a clear preference for cooperation over confrontation. Against the backdrop of intensifying Sino-US technological competition, Ren’s remarks … Read more
Ren Zhengfei’s first journey beyond China occurred in 1992, when he and a Huawei delegation departed from Hong Kong, transited through Tokyo, and traveled across the United States. Their itinerary covered Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Las Vegas, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles. During the trip, they visited several leading power-supply companies—CP, Texas Instruments, and … Read more
Western societies tend to prioritize core principles such as individual rights, democratic decision-making, the rule of law, competitive markets, transparency, minimal government corruption, independent media, and freedoms of thought, conscience, and expression. While these principles are cherished in Western societies, there is a tendency to assume that others, such as the Chinese, share the same … Read more
Before 2010, China primarily exported labor-intensive, low value-added products to developed countries while importing high value-added, capital- and technology-intensive goods from the West. Over time, however, China’s industrial upgrading has accelerated, and its exports have shifted toward higher value-added, capital- and technology-intensive products that increasingly compete directly with developed economies. Western, particularly U.S., accusations of … Read more
Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, adopted a markedly different approach from Jack Welch’s strategy of financialization and downsizing. While Welch emphasized short-term shareholder gains and cost-cutting—even at the expense of manufacturing and employees—Ren focused on long-term industrial growth, technological capability, and self-reliance. In contrast to Welch’s approach, Huawei’s strategies actively strengthened China’s industrial base and fostered … Read more
In American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper (2016), Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson argue that beginning in the late 1970s, the United States experienced a powerful ideological shift. Conservative movements and corporate interests championed “market fundamentalism”—the belief that government intervention inevitably stifles growth and freedom. This … Read more