Posted on 09/23/2015 9:45:32 AM PDT by RightGeek
Chinese officials have summoned top American tech executives to Seattle for a forum on Wednesday in a show of force that could make the Obama administration’s standing in Silicon Valley appear weak by comparison.
Beijing moved up the date of the annual event to coincide with President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit and reportedly pressured major Silicon Valley players to send their chief executives to what is normally an annual summit for midlevel management, threatening regulatory scrutiny if they didn’t comply.
“It’s not really voluntary,” said Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Jason Healey, a former director of cyber infrastructure protection at the White House. “They are absolutely expected to be there, and be there in force.”
Business groups and Silicon Valley say they have no choice but to show up. Despite China’s rampant commercial espionage and onerous regulations for foreign firms, the Asian superpower’s market is too powerful to pass up.
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Indeed, the reported guest list is a who’s who of American business leaders. The tech sector will be well represented by the chief executives of Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Google and Facebook. Other heavyweights, like Warren Buffett, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger were invited and are expected to make the trip.
“U.S. companies have lots of conflicting interests,” said Adam Segal, a Chinese cyber policy expert and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “While they want the cyber hacking to end, they also do a huge amount of business in China and they want that to continue and grow.
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Many are comparing Wednesday’s event to a much-touted White House cybersecurity conference in February, during which President Obama took his cyber pitch to Silicon Valley and was met with mixed reactions and some notable absences.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Three cheers for free trade.
Moderation in ALL things.
Including moderation
Not a chance that any sort Sherman Act collusion could happen at such an event. Not a chance at all.
When the boss calls, you answer.
The next generation of successful Americans will speak both Mandarin and Spanish, so they can transmit the orders from the boss to the workers.
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