Ask Prof Wolff: China Vs. a Myth of Stolen Technology

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I recently watched a great news segment about China's acquisition of western tech by China. You have spoken on this point in the past, could you reiterate that the tech acquired by China was not stolen, but as Saagar stated "China's ability to weaponize western greed."

This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Hennelly brilliantly analyzes our capitalist crises and how individuals cope with them, tragically but often heroically. He helps us draw inspiration and realistic hope from how courageous Americans are facing and fixing a stuck nation.” - Richard D. Wolff
_________________________________________________________________________
Follow Wolff ONLINE:

[Brandon-srbl]

China requires a JV and technology sharing agreements when entering the Chinese market. The international companies agree to this and love counting those profits, but turn around and complain about the technology sharing later. Then it gets labeled as “forced” technology and then it’s labeled “stolen”.

[paulhsieh]

My career in China began in 1994 and during the following years I saw a steady stream of government heads and corporate CEOs visiting China with trade and other business in mind. What Prof. Wolff said and explained is factual and verifiable. The truth is the Chinese people has stood up against all odds.

[richardwong]

China has pulled it off because it is unique with huge, diligent and hard working population, and a one party state with consistent long term goals but flexible enough to adapt and adopt so as to be pragmatic. Other Asian and South East Asian countries have similar ethos but their populations and geographical size are much smaller. More to the point, those countries have multi-party political systems that would ensure continuous changes to whatever the previous government has done, ie no consistency in long term targets but all short term political gains (Western style). Vietnam is actually a communist country but the US and the West like Vietnam; they rarely publicly criticise or smear Vietnam because it is not seen as a "threat". Singapore is a prosperous city state virtually dominated by one political party. Rarely, if any, have I seen negative opinions of Singapore from the West. Some local and Asian people think that Singapore acts like a dictator. So you know what I am leading to. Political system may or may not matter. It is a matter of effective governance.
During an interview, the founder of Huawei questioned that how could the West accuse Huawei of stealing technologies from them that they had not got? A senior employee said in an interview about 5G that the company had been researching on 6G several years ago.
By the end of 2020 the entire underground transport network in Shanghai was covered by 5G.
In contrast, the Mayor of London has promised to cover the entire London Underground network with 4G by the end of 2024.
That's how much more advanced Chinese technology is in terms of development and implementation.
Without Western interference of all kinds, I bet that African nations with help from China will leapfrog the West. This may sound far-fetched. The US will do its utmost, including starting a war and regime change, to next suppress the rise of Africa.
Many areas on the Belt and Road Initiative have since 2013 had bombings, massive political protests and chaotic civil wars etc. This is the dirty work done by a particular organisation to stop the success of China's Belt and Road Initiative.
If China and the Chinese had the technology to migrate to live in Mars, I bet the US would try to stop the Chinese travel in mid-space.

[ivanho]

China was a student, however, at the turn of the 21st century China became a teacher, and now a innovator. Just look at the number of patents filed by China in recent years is evident of their technological capabilities to innovate.

[CarpsterKing]

When a bully cannot defeat his advesary even though with his friend's help he will cry foul and complain to the school authorities of unfair tactics and intimidation...

[panzergrenadier]

You hit the spot dead on. It was all part of the deal that foreign companies agreed on when they begged to enter this massive market, it was called "market share for tech". Based on that consensus, the foreign companies get the market share and, in turn, their Chinese partner get to learn their tech. Over the years, the Chinese did get some tech which they would otherwise never have, but the stuff shared by foreign companies are mostly out-dated and of low-end, which strengthened the Chinese determination to spend heavily on R&D.

[myleshagar]

I lived in China riding hybrid buses, brand new extensive subways, high speed trains and then returned to Canada where you are lucky to find a bus and no trains to a totally private car dependent system . Where is the technology that was stolen? It never was.

[thebatteryclinic]

Dear Sir. My take is that most of the technology you talk about don't matter. So Chinese make the iPhone keep 6 dollars. The technologies they develope the west deemed them fringe impractical and unprofitable like lithium batteries, solar, high speed trains. But when China started owning patents in 5G technology and leading in what will be the next productivity multiplier technology the mood changed. None of the high end tech was ever transferred they were denied the Chinese like nuclear and space science. Granted the chinese sent their students over to the Western universities. That is not copying. Many stayed back and contributed to the Western economy until they were unwelcome. They return home to found better opportunities for research and business opportunities.

[blim]

Coming from a. Professor and an American, my salute to you! You are unbiased in your analysis and indeed should open the eyes of
some narrow minded people. 👍

[samliew]

Overall, the Chinese people are very hardworking, smart (very good with Math, Science and Business) entrepreneurial, fast- learner, resilient and forward-looking.

[taykokhuat]

The West must realised why China had a deep manufacturing skill virtually as if it happened overnight. The Chinese already had this skill inherited hundred of years ago, possibly thousands of years earlier. For e. g. the British visited China in the 17th century and saw many amazing products manufactured by the Chinese which they had never seen before such as pottery, silk, gunpowder, paper, printing etc. So they bought some porcelain wares back to Britain and studied them. Their conclusion was that the porcelain were made from egg shells which of course were wrong. The British were in a way very amazed by the Chinese talent in invention and innovation as well as their manufacturing skill in producing innovative products which were new to them. This gave rise to the British a spark of inspiration to be inventive themselves too. So from that time onward, the British embarked on a different mindset to be inventive which gave rise to the reconnaissance of industrial rovolution known as Industrial 1.0. China on the other hand was on the decline due to internal rivalries. Then came the foreign invasion and bullying which they had to secede the island of Hong Kong to the british and Macau plus trading. But within the Chinese, the deep inheritance of manufacturing skill, business skill and inventiveness were still there. That explain why Chinese seemed to be able to catch up to the West which seemed like overnight. To the West, it was mistaken for stealing their technologies.

[wongchanthong]

Prof Wolff is so clear., accurate and direct to the point. Wonder why Americans are still not getting it.

[Jeff-smof]

dont call it copying, call it learning. learning is normal human trait.

[saintorlamb]

It is "PAID" and not "STOLEN" technology. Overseas Chinese students spend 56 BILLION annually for education !!!

[charlieong]

"Repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth"

"it doesn't have to be true, it just needs to look like it"

[NapaValleyVegan]

How sad that we have to fight over who came up with “it” first. What an amazing world we would live in if governments would collaborate on the good stuff for people, our planet, the animals. We might finally have a world without war, poverty, etc. Some might say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one! 🤗

[kevinthegreat]

Sadly the average of Americans either do not want to know or just don't understand Prof. Wolff economics 101.

[chinfoomaa]

Unfortunately most westerners listen to Trump's demogoguery than the professor's truth telling.

[walden]

The West copied Chinese technology as well in the past when China was a strong Empire. There is nothing wrong with countries copying and learning from each other. Only Capitalists put that in people's mind that copying is stealing because they don't want others to compete with them. The concept of intellectual property is violation of human rights to learn from their surroundings. Copying should be embrace rather than shun in society. By sharing knowledge humanity can progress.

[Winstontangys]

You are truly a Prof with substance and quality who understand what is happening in the world now👍👍