China's and Huawei's way forward in the trade war: new book

From the author Shenzhen Superstars comes a new book, “The Epic Split – Why ‘Made in China’ is going out of style”, explaining the background to this fierce and escalating trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies but also how international and Chinese companies navigate these new waters of trade war, decoupling and consumer boycotts.

For China, the conflict has given new urgency to the need to modernize its economy and become more self-reliant in technology.

Few people have seen this more clearly than Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei. The Shenzhen-based telecom giant has become almost emblematic of the trade and tech war that’s raging between the world’s two biggest economies.

On a sunny autumn afternoon in 2019, Johan sat down with Ren Zhengfei to talk about how he navigates the trade war, accusations of espionage, and the future of China Inc. They also spoke about the urgent need for China and firms like his to become tech self-reliant.

“First of all, we don’t want to see de-globalization happen, we should firmly pursue globalization,” he said, but added that Huawei is ready for a new reality.

“We can’t change the world and we can’t change our external environment, but we can change our own methods so that we can achieve success within the existing environment. A negative mentality could lead to failure.”

Ren Zhengfei founder of Huawei

This is not a book about the world going up in flames. It’s about change and opportunities.

The book is available as paperback and e-book in both English and Chinese.

Purchase English Book

Purchase Chinese Book

Author Johan Nylander

Author Johan Nylander / Courtesy Allan Nylander

Johan Nylander is an award-winning author, public speaker and freelance China and Asia correspondent. His work is published by CNN, Forbes, Sweden’s leading business daily Dagens Industri, etc. He is the author of “The Epic Split – Why ‘Made in China’ is going out of style” as well as “Shenzhen Superstars – How China’s smartest city is challenging Silicon Valley”, which became an Amazon bestseller. More here: johannylander.asia