Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha (The Edge Communications Sdn. Bhd., 2023)
For at least the last two decades, a presence in China was seen by Western firms as a distinct competitive advantage over their peers. Now, all that seems to be changing. American and European suspicion of China has been rising as China seeks to control its technological destiny. For as long as China was a low-cost, low-value-added producer of basic goods, it fit into Western needs for cheap consumer products. But as China moved up the value chain and made known its intention to master and indigenise advanced technology under its Made in China 2025 policy, Western backlash followed. A China seeking technological parity with the West, particularly in key industries like artificial intelligence, 5G, semiconductors, aerospace and bio�technology was simply not acceptable to Western policymakers. What began as the imposition of tariffs evolved into outright sanctions, particularly against Chinese tech giants like ZTE and Huawei.
