The walls have ears?

A reproduction of the Economist's article

 

 

 

Who’s afraid of Huawei?

The rise of a Chinese world-beater is stoking fears of cyber-espionage. Techno-nationalism is not the answer

     

CHINESE companies have started to win first place in global markets. Huawei has just overtaken Sweden’s Ericsson to become the world’s largest telecoms-equipment-maker. Even though many foreigners still cannot pronounce its name (some call it “Hawaii”, and the firm has even produced a video teaching people to say hwah-way), Huawei is becoming an increasingly powerful global player, capable of going head-to-head with the best in intensely competitive markets. It follows Haier, which is already the leading white-goods-maker; now Lenovo is challenging Hewlett-Packard as the world’s biggest PC-maker. Plenty more will follow (see article).

Huawei, a private firm, is a standard-bearer in China’s long march into Western markets. Its founder, Ren Zhengfei, who served as an engineer in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), at first struggled to win customers even in China. But his company followed Mao’s strategy of using the countryside to encircle and capture the cities, and it has moved on to win foreign markets too: in Europe it is involved in over half of the superfast 4G telecoms networks that have been announced, and it has become a strong competitor in mobile phones (see article). The company is now a $32-billion business empire with 140,000 employees, and customers in 140 countries. It commands respect by delivering high-quality telecoms equipment at low prices.

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They did it Huawei
But Huawei inspires fear too—and not just among its competitors. The company is said to be too close for comfort to the PLA. Westerners fret that the networks the firm is building are used by Chinese spooks to eavesdrop during peacetime and could be shut down suddenly during wartime. They see the firm as a potent weapon in China’s burgeoning cyber-arsenal.
It is a view that some governments are taking seriously. Earlier this year Australia blocked Huawei’s participation in a scheme to build a national broadband network in the country. The company has also faced opposition to its commercial expansion in India. And in America, where Huawei’s attempts to grow have often been stymied, a congressional committee that focuses on intelligence matters is putting the firm under a microscope; suspicions have been aggravated by a recent spate of cyber-attacks attributed to Chinese hackers.
Western governments are also suspicious of the subsidies, low-interest loans and generous export credits lavished on favoured champions, including Huawei. The European Commission is considering opening an investigation. Some people suppose that the Chinese government is helping Huawei win overseas contracts so that spies can exploit its networks to snoop on ever more of the world’s electronic traffic.
Arguments against imports always need to be viewed with caution, since they will be used by protectionists to keep emerging rivals out. Still, it is reasonable to worry about security in telecoms: recent reports have pointed to the efforts of Chinese state-sponsored hackers to vacuum up valuable Western commercial secrets on a massive scale. Western intelligence agencies are also alert to the risks of eavesdropping and cyber-attacks because they themselves are practitioners (a prime example being the Stuxnet virus, aimed at Iran’s nuclear programme). As for Huawei, a firm that controls a network’s creation and management is ideally placed to sneak in malware and sneak out sensitive data. Even though it is a private company with an awful lot to lose if it were caught spying, the power of the state in China’s version of capitalism means the West is right to be vigilant.
But banning Huawei from bidding for commercial contracts is wrongheaded, for two reasons. One is that the economic benefit of competition from China in general and Huawei in particular is huge. It boosts growth and thus wellbeing. Huawei’s cheap but effective equipment helped make Africa’s mobile-telecoms revolution possible.
Distrust and verify
The other reason for not banning Huawei is the dirty little secret that its foreign rivals strangely neglect to mention: just about everybody makes telecoms equipment in China these days. Chinese manufacturers and designers have become an integral part of the global telecoms supply chain. Blocking Huawei (or its rival Chinese telecoms giant, ZTE) while allowing gear from, say, Alcatel-Lucent or Ericsson on a network may make politicians feel good. But it is no guarantee of security. Huawei’s competitors have a vested interest in hyping concerns about it, while disguising their own reliance on Chinese subcontractors and on subsidies.
The answer is to insist on greater scrutiny all round, not just of Chinese firms. Governments should be crystal-clear about what conditions telecoms firms need to meet to win business—something America’s secretive security-review process does not do today. They should also do more to ensure that equipment is secure, no matter who makes it. That means demanding to know where hardware components and software come from, and requiring intrusive random inspections of code and equipment. America has no effective system of supply-chain checks. In Britain, by contrast, where BT is a big customer, Huawei has established a unit (run in close co-operation with GCHQ, Britain’s signals-intelligence agency) with security-cleared personnel, including former employees of GCHQ, who vet gear from China before it is installed. Such scrutiny will drive up costs, but these pale in comparison with those imposed by bans on Chinese firms, which diminish competition and push up prices.
Huawei can also help allay foreigners’ fears. The company’s opaque ownership structure and secretive culture have damaged its reputation. It needs to be far more open. One way to achieve this would be for the closely held firm to seek a listing on a global stockmarket—if not in America, then at least in Hong Kong. Greater openness would also help clarify the real threat that Chinese firms such as Huawei pose to America and other countries: that they are starting to out-innovate the home-grown competition

Healing a wounded planet

A reproduction of the watchtower Society's article

“Nature’s Wisdom”

 

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN JAPAN

THAT theme rang out from Aichi, Japan, the venue for Expo 2005, in which 121 countries participated. Visitors were encouraged to learn from nature and to “make serious efforts to discover paths to sustainable growth.” Located near Nagoya, in central Japan, the exposition site featured forests, ponds, and flowers. A unique attraction was a 1.6-mile- [2.6 km]long elevated walkway called the Global Loop. Almost 70 feet [21 m] wide, it afforded panoramic views, while at the same time preserving the natural beauty below.

At One With Nature

Resembling a massive cocoon, a woven bamboo outer “skin” made up of 23,000 lengths of bamboo covered the Japan pavilion, shielding it from the sun’s heat. The bamboo stems averaged 23 feet [7 m] in length, and the building measured 62 feet [19 m] high, 295 feet [90 m] wide, and 230 feet [70 m] deep, making it one of the largest bamboo structures in the world. The pavilion featured a 360-degree spherical video-imaging system. Inside the 42-foot [12.8 m] diameter sphere and completely surrounded by moving images, visitors could savor the sensation of being at one, so to speak, with the earth and its abundance of life.

Using multimedia displays, the Malaysia pavilion portrayed that country’s rain forests and coral reefs. In the Thailand pavilion, heartrending scenes of the December 26, 2004, tsunami reminded viewers that “man is not the master of nature.” Pointing to the specter of extinction, the South Africa exhibit featured the replica of a quagga foal, a zebralike mammal that roamed the plains of southern Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the 19th century.

In a refrigerated display adjacent to the Expo’s theme pavilion were the remains of a mammoth unearthed in the permafrost of Siberia, Russia, in 2002. Named the Yukagir Mammoth, after its discovery site, this example of an extinct species of elephant had two huge, curved tusks, and its eyes were partially open. Its head was still covered with skin and tufts of hair. An amazing specimen, the mammoth served as another poignant reminder of extinction.

A Better Future?

How can humans deal with threats to the future of our planet, such as pollution and global warming? Described as “the symbol of Expo 2005,” a massive “green” wall—called Bio-Lung—stood 490 feet [150 m] long and up to 50 feet [15 m] high. The wall was made up of 200,000 plants of 200 species, including flowers. It was suggested that a number of such “lungs,” which can be seasonally adjusted, could serve as a city’s respiratory organ and air filter, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

The Expo also featured transportation that included hybrid buses powered by electricity. As these vehicles shuttled people about, the only emission from their exhausts was water. Another treat for technology lovers was Japan’s first commercially operated maglev linear train, named Linimo. Using powerful magnets, Linimo rode quietly and smoothly about a quarter of an inch [8 mm] above its rails. Also on display were battery-powered trams, bicycle taxis, and buslike vehicles that could operate with or without drivers. Speeding along in two’s or three’s, these futuristic vehicles used natural gas, which is cleaner than regular fuels.

Imagine turning organic waste, such as food garbage, into electricity and fertilizer. An energy plant at the site used a process called methane fermentation to do just that. Instead of incinerating garbage, the plant fermented it and turned it into methane gas, from which hydrogen was extracted. Fuel cells, which use chemical reactions to create electricity, oxidized the hydrogen to generate electricity. The by-products were water and fertilizer. In fact, the plant processed all the organic waste produced at the Expo, and the resulting electricity powered some of the pavilions.

Considerable research is being done in the field of robotics, with the goal of producing lightweight machines capable of serving as personal assistants to humans. Demonstrating some of the advances in robot technology, seven robots walked to center stage in one pavilion and drew in the crowds with music. Some played wind instruments, their “fingers” nimbly working the keys, while another played the drums. “Their movements were so smooth and agile that they could have passed for humans in disguise,” said an observer.

Two other high-tech inventions were biodegradable plastics made from cornstarch and similar products and nanobubbles—tiny gas bubbles less than 200 nanometers in diameter. A human hair is about 50,000 nanometers in diameter. Such tiny bubbles are normally very unstable and quickly disappear. Researchers in Japan, however, have developed technology for producing stable nanobubbles of oxygen, which enhance “the ability of fish and shellfish to adapt to environmental changes.” In fact, an aquarium saturated with nanobubbles of oxygen was able to accommodate certain species of both freshwater and saltwater fish! Researchers hope to find applications of this new technology in fish farming, agriculture, and other areas.

Is the World Listening?

Although the Expo stressed the need to listen to “nature’s wisdom,” by and large, the world is not giving ear. The voices of ignorance, greed, and corruption are drowning out opposing voices. As a result, the earth has become “the Wounded Planet,” as stated at one exhibit. But even the well intentioned have no reliable answers to mankind’s problems and the earth’s ecological woes. According to the Bible, these answers are beyond the scope of human knowledge and wisdom. (Jeremiah 10:23) Yet, the situation is far from hopeless. How so?

The Bible tells us that the very highest Source of wisdom—our Creator—will intervene in earth’s affairs before humans ruin his handiwork. (Revelation 4:11; 11:18) “Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more . . . But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace,” says Psalm 37:10, 11. True, we are wise to listen to nature, but we are much wiser to listen to the Creator by reading and applying his Word, the Holy Bible. (2 Timothy 3:16) All who do so will see our ailing planet thoroughly healed and transformed into a paradise.—Luke 23:43.