Daniel F. Runde

Could you see it in Mainland China outside of Hong Kong? Could you imagine a scenario? They have hundreds of thousands of people censoring the Internet all the time. Is it possible that there could be some sort of leaderless movement to call for greater democracy? Can you imagine a scenario where there’s a digitally-led democracy movement in Mainland China?

In your lifetime, will there be democracy in Mainland China? I think it’s possible.

What does conclude well in your mind? I hope it concludes well, too. In my mind, what I think it means is that Xi Jinping backs off of this law and returns to status quo ante. Isn’t that basically what the best outcome is at this point?

What’s the CCSTA?

I want to come back to 5G, 4G, and Huawei.

Could you imagine a scenario where there’s a digitally-led movement in Mainland China, non-Hong Kong? In your lifetime, could you imagine a digitally-led democracy movement in Mainland China?

I’d been following a little bit the election here in Taiwan. I’m convinced that what the mistreatment of the citizens of Hong Kong by mainland Chinese forces is being watched here in Taiwan, and there’s sort of a triangular, triumvirate, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

I believe that one of the reasons that the mainland government has not acted even more harshly in Hong Kong is fear that it will have a political impact here in Taiwan. Do you agree with that?

This was post-martial law.

The government of the time was going to operate.

He did.

What percentage of the population of mainland China supports the PRC government?

Take a guess. What’s your guess?

It’s a function the deal that they’ve made, which is, “I’ll provide you jobs and high growth, and you stay out of politics.”

Up until now, they’ve provided it.

I think there’s been a change in Washington and it doesn’t matter if we have a Republican government or a Democratic government. I think there’s been a change in how we think about China. Some of it had to do, I think there was a before and after the emergence of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, there’s a before and after the Belt and Road Initiative.

I think there’s a before and after this treatment of Hong Kong. I think especially if it ends poorly, it will be a historic error on the part of the mainland Chinese government. This is not 1989.

You can’t censor the massacre. You’re not going to be able to censor the massacre. The American government was not dealing with the end of the Soviet Union and the end of the captive nations.

I don’t know what mainland China’s GNP per capita is these days. I don’t know if it’s $8,000 per capita. At the time, it was $2,000 or $1,000, so we’re now dealing with a much different kind of an economy and a much different player, so it’s not a question about we’ve got to continue on a process.

I think that we’re in a very different place, and this is a very different ball game. I think they understand that.

They would have already crushed what’s happening in Hong Kong.

Are you a digital optimist?

We shouldn’t fear deep fakes, and cyber attacks, and Internet of things being turned off with an off switch, and mainland China taking all our driverless cars and crashing them into each other, we shouldn’t worry about it, and people stealing my privacy. I’m being a little provocative, but I think you know what I’m trying to say.

For decades.

We’re just applying them to real life.

You don’t need a Hollywood studio to do it.

Of these technologies.

In your mind, is it a question of educating in values in the society? Is that basically all you can do?

Can you imagine this being in the elementary schools?

I want to talk about, I want to come back to the issue of 4G, 5G, Huawei. I notice that there’s no Huawei technology here in Taiwan. Why is that?

I know him.

With Foxconn, or ZTE, or?

The risk was too high.

Do you agree with that?

The founder of Huawei used to be Chinese military, army, PLA.

We have a global problem. I would describe, there has been a collective freak-out in Washington realizing that in terms of quality and price, the only competitive actor today for 5G is Huawei. How is the global system going to respond to the challenge of Huawei being price competitive and quality competitive on 5G, when there literally exists no other actor today?

I have my views about how to solve this, how would you go about solving the challenge of Huawei being competitive on a price and quality basis and having no other competitor today?

We don’t do that.

Or Sematech.

It’s very, very unusual…

Like the Chrysler bailout in 1980. or the TARP in 2008.

How is the 5G problem strategic problem going to be resolved?

I understand that, but…

Wait half a year.

Because somebody else will enter and solve the problem.

You’re saying, other competitors will enter the market quickly.

Can you see a future, is there a 6G two years from now or three years from now?

Five.

Should we be worried about countries in Africa or Latin America using Huawei pipes?

That’s what I’m worried…Once you choose it once, you’re stuck with it.