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US-China debate underscores neo-Cold war over tech hegemony: WKF
The world has entered a new bout of a Cold War that does not involve traditional nor strategic arms like nuclear, where primary weaponry is technology as the tech-empowered ascension of China poses a fundamental challenge to both the west and east hemispheres, argued Niall Ferguson, a prominent scholar from the Stanford University.He was pitted against Justin Yifu Lin of Peking University on the theme of the G2 trade war on Wednesday at the 20th World Knowledge Forum hosted by Maeil Business Newspaper in Seoul, where both displayed perspective poles apart between the two global superpowers."This cold war is not going to involve proxy wars or what we used to call a third world, nor is it going to involve nuclear brinkmanship. It is primarily going to be a technology race as the United States wakens up belatedly and realizes that there is a fundamental challenge to the democratic systems of the western and the eastern world posed by China`s increasingly geopolitically ambitious rise," he said as he pointed out China wants to be "not just a superpower but the dominant power."The U.S.-China trade war, which has evolved to be a tech hegemony struggle or the neo-Cold War started last year when the U.S. complained of having a massive trade deficit with China.Ferguson argued that China benefited in trade by making "foul" moves, ranging from "intellectual property theft on a massive scale" to currency manipulation."The main reason for the U.S. trade deficit to increase substantially in quantity it is because of its internal structural problems," retorted Lin. "We know that the U.S. consumes a lot... and any county of that kind of structure is going to have a trade deficit."The two countries differ in their "comparative advantages" in trade, Lin said. China "specializes in more labor-intensive, low-value-added products" and the U.S. in "high-value-added products," Lin argued the U.S. has been importing labor-intensive, low-value-added products from East Asia to suggest the U.S.`s large trade deficit stems from its own structural problem.Lin also defended China on the currency front. “The IMF officially announced that China does not manipulate currency" and "We need to follow the global standards." He also denied that there was no state-level involvement behind intellectual property theft done by some Chinese people working at Silicon Valley. The Chinese also has laws on protecting intellectual property, in fact, foreign companies in many cases won legal suits in the country, he argued.Ferguson countered that China`s "innovation" is a consequence of a state-led project to maximize China`s power. He said the U.S.`s "ultimate goal" is "to get out of the unfair practices and uncompetitive practices central to `Made in China 2025,` China`s strategic plan to get to the very top of the value chain, ...by fair means or foul.""If China overtakes the U.S. and I warn you, you will miss the United States for all its flaws when it is China`s century and China`s world because ...there is no meaningful rule of law (in China)," Ferguson elevated his argument to accuse "China is a one-party state in which human rights of individuals or indeed ethnic minorities clear get a second place to the interest of the party and the party is above the law."Lin strongly opposed the notion. "The projection of warning is just based on your own cultural heritage. You look China from your own eyes of cultural legacy," he retorted."We certainly have a lot of internal problems to improve and we recognize that and take a policy to improve that. We never try to point our fingers to other countries for our own domestic problems," Lin said, as he reminded how China has remained as good friend with Malaysia for so long when it took "just years of contacts of western powers" to lead to colonization.By Choi Jae-won and Cho Jeehyun
2020.01.28
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Maekyung Media Group inks sponsorship agreement with XTC
Maekyung Media Group Chairman Chang Dae-hwan, center, poses with former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, left, and Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon after signing an agreement on cooperation for the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) global competition in this picture taken on Sept. 26 at the Jangchung Arena in Seoul. [By Kim Ho-young]Maekyung Media Group on Friday announced the signing of a sponsorship agreement with the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), a nonprofit devoted to promoting education and science through its global startup competition.The signing ceremony was attended by Maekyung Media Group Chairman Chang Dae-hwan and Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon on behalf of the XTC during the former’s World Knowledge Forum (WKF) which wrapped up last month.The namesake competition is designed to elevate the next-generation of entrepreneurs creating new technologies and innovations to benefit humankind. Inspired by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), XTC supports and showcases the innovators harnessing the power of technology to address the greatest challenges facing humanity and our planet.Maekyung Media Group will participate in various programs as an XTC partner along with Samsung Electronics, which also support the initiative.During the WKF forum, Maekyung Media Group and Samsung Electronics also agreed to cooperate in achieving the SDG through technology innovations. World leaders adopted the UN SDG in 2015 to eradicate hunger, extreme poverty by 2030."Extreme Tech Challenge is a perfect fit to the Knowledge Revolution 5.0 era. Companies and markets will be able to seize new business opportunities never before seen,” said Maekyung Media Group Chairman Chang Dae-hwan."Samsung Electronics has launched this new corporate initiative to bring more skills to more people and to help the next generation learn more to better use technology,” said Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon.By Kim Hyo-hye and Minu Kim
2020.01.28
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Recollection on key messages from the 20th WKF
Global leaders across the board got together at Maekyung Media Group’s 20th World Knowledge Forum held in September 25-27 in Seoul, South Korea to share their insights and discuss various issues under the topic “Knowledge Revolution 5.0: Perspicacity Towards Prosperity for All”. Here are the top 10 messages from the forum.1. Importance of risk diversificationGlobal experts and economists warned that some countries or companies could face default next year amid growing uncertainties in the global economy such as ongoing trade disputes between the world’s two biggest economies the U.S. and China. Yoon Jae-sung, chief investment officer at New York Investment Management said diversifying risks strategically would be key to the successful investment.2. Triple scourges putting the global economy at recession risksNouriel Roubini, the economic professor of New York University’s Stern School of Business who is known as Dr.Doom for predicting the 2008 global financial crisis, warned that major economies playing chicken games could intensify the global economic risks to the point of a recession.“A global recession can be triggered by either escalation of U.S. and China trade war, or possibly hot war between U.S. and Iran that spike oil prices, or a hard Brexit that will damage Europe and affect the rest of the world,” the professor said.3. South Korea to be the biggest victim of the U.S.-China conflictHarvard professor Niall Ferguson said South Korea is a country that should fear the most the escalating trade and technology war between the world’s two most powerful economies. He argued that the Chinese government has been restricting business activities in a debate with Justin Yifu Lin of Peking University who countered that China would overtake the U.S. in 20 years.4. A need to strengthen security cooperation of Korea, the U.S. and JapanMarc Knapper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan at the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said he hoped South Korea to rethink its decision to end the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan because it could break down the tripartite security partnership framework of the three countries. Vincent Brooks, former commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the U.S.-Korea alliance will never be broken, and nothing can shake the commitment of ‘let’s go together’, a catchphrase of the alliance.5. Future industrial landscape to be shaped by data and AISamsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon coined a new term ‘DATA.I.’ at the forum to emphasize data and artificial intelligence (AI) are inextricable in the future industries. Nick Bostrom, director of Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, said the world should brace for the future where machines surpass humans in general intelligence and this ‘superintelligence’ becomes dominant lifeform on Earth.6. Fierce 5G raceHwang Chang-gyu, chairman of South Korea’s leading telecom company KT, stressed the need for “strengthening cooperation to forge better future and prosperity based on 5G network” and argued the governments around the world should ease regulations to facilitate 5G utilization and the international organizations are immediately needed to come up with related guidelines.James Cathey, Senior Vice President and President of global business at Qualcomm, said 5G would spark new inventions and reshape industrial landscape.7. Technology should work in harmony with humanitySouth Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a video message that the fourth industrial revolution should usher in a new era in which science and technology build a harmonious relationship with humanity. Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon said the innovative technologies that are being under development should be wisely employed to make our lives better.8. Transition to low-carbon economyMasamichi Kono, Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said the world needs a transition to a “low-carbon economy” by increasing power generation from renewable sources and expanding R&D in low-emission technology. Former French President Francois Hollande proposed to create a virtuous circle in which the private sector pays for emitting carbon and the money is reinvested to climate change mitigation measures.9. K-pop to bring world togetherK-pop will connect Asia to the world and this new relationship will create many “cross-border opportunities,” said Lee Soo-man, the founding chairman and executive producer of South Korea’s leading record label SM Entertainment. Steve Chen, co-founder of video sharing website YouTube, said Korea’s video streaming platform needs to expand its presence into the wider world.10. New definition on leadershipRajeev Bidyanand Dubey, President of Mahindra & Mahindra Group, said an organization with a mindset that its leader knows everything must work on a path towards failure. Olivier Blum, chief HR officer at Schneider Electric said a team needs to bring people with different strengths together instead of finding one perfect leader. [ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
2020.01.28
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