The open-source model is a radical exercise in transparency. Credit: Markus Spiske, Creative Commons
Every time you stream your favorite TV show, whether it’s on Netflix or iQiyi, chances are you are firing up some cloud servers somewhere that run on Linux, an open source operating system. If you use a smartphone made by Samsung, Huawei or Xiaomi, it’s running on Android, another open source operating system for mobile devices.
Open source technology already permeates our digital lives, directly or indirectly. It’s also becoming an integral part of the industrial policy of countries seeking technological independence — from India and Israel to the UK and Japan. The most determined among them is China.
China’s accelerated push to become more technologically self-sufficient is likely fueled, in part, by its trade war with the U.S., and the export sanctions the U.S. has used against Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese technology firms. A core theme coming out of China’s most recent Fifth Plenum is scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, with a n
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When Ken Wilcox, a former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, moved to Shanghai in 2011, he was optimistic and eager to start up the bank's new joint venture in China. A decade later, however, he is extremely cynical about U.S. business interests in China. While analysts will, rightly, be debating SVB's missteps in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, Wilcox insists the bank's challenges in China should not be overlooked.
The former secretary of state talks about how the Trump administration changed U.S.-China relations; why he accused Beijing of genocide in Xinjiang; and why U.S. politicians should visit Taiwan.
