White House aims to leapfrog over China through 6G, other tech innovations beyond Huawei's 5G

In the ongoing technological battle with China, described by some as a new Cold War, the Trump White House is aiming to leapfrog over China through 6G and other tech innovations beyond Chinese telecom giant Huawei's 5G.

Adam Boehler, CEO of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, told Just the News in a video interview that the United States has no intention of sitting passively by despite Huawei's sophistication in the 5G realm of cellular networking. Such networking capabilities are seen as enabling revolutions in cutting-edge technology fronts like artificial intelligence, satellites, 3D printing, and the broader networking of Internet-enabled devices.

"We're more interested in what the next wave is," said Boehler, a leader in the administration's push to break U.S. reliance on Chinese supply chains. "We're interested in 6G, and [that is] where we're investing, because that's where both the United States and other countries will dominate and where China is not going to rule through subsidies."

The Commerce Department in May issued new rules to prevent Huawei and its suppliers from using American technology and software. Last month, citing human rights abuses, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. will impose visa restrictions on Chinese technology firms, including Huawei.

In a press conference, Pompeo described Huawei as "an arm of the Chinese Communist Party's surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China."

Boehler addressed the subsidies Huawei receives from the Chinese government and potential negative implications.

"I think the issue you have with 5G is Huawei subsidizes mainly," Boehler said. "And one of the things that we're looking at is why are we looking at 5G from a hardware perspective, think of any technology. It starts out hardware, and it moves virtual to software. Huawei and 5G. That's the old line technology. So if countries want to spend billions and billions of dollars on old line technology while putting their national security at risk? That's a question I would ask myself, and I would consider very seriously whether I'm going to invest in that."

Boehler said he thinks the United States was positioned to act more nimbly than China in the tech race because of its ability to easily tap into a global network of emerging technologies.

"We're going to look at any emerging technology, and I'm not just looking at us, we're looking abroad at any emerging technology," Boehler said "It's another advantage we have over China. We are not tied to one country. We're not tied to one country's technology. We're going to take the best of the best around the world from emerging technologies. Those are startups, etc. It's not a Huawei game. It's a next generation game."