The 5 (G) World War

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a major international U.S.-based professional association that publishes technical academic papers, has excluded Huawei staff from participating in the peer-review process. Last month, the U.S. government placed Huawei on its dreaded “entities list,” making it difficult for businesses to collaborate with the China-based telecom giant. IEEE is attempting to comply with the new regulations. In retaliation, the China Computer Federation has cut-off ties with the IEEE, reports Fortune newsletter.

IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is a professional association for technologists that publishes research, defines technology standards, and hosts conferences, among other activities. Huawei employees frequently contribute to the organization’s publications and present at its conferences. But this week the Chinese technology news publication Pandaily published an email sent by IEEE to the editors of its publications, instructing them to stop using Huawei employees as peer reviewers for articles they’re considering for publication. In other words, Huawei employees will no longer play a role in evaluating research before publication.

Meanwhile, Huawei has ” ordered employees to cancel technical meetings with US contacts, and has repatriated all U.S. employees working in the company’s Shenzhen research and development facilities.” The country has also created its own list to ban foreign entities or individuals who “do not follow market rules, violate the spirit of contracts, blockade and stop supplying Chinese companies for noncommercial reasons, and seriously damage the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”

The U.S.-China trade war may not end as just a trading conflict – we sincerely hope it ends with ‘G’ in this phrase: The 5 (G) World War. The escalation has crossed lines with military leaders using words usually reserved for politicians. People, this is entering a global paralysis with structural redesign of commerce and industry in ways never experienced in the last four decades.

LinkedIn Comment on Feed

The serious shaking of world order is needed, for too long, we seem to have different rules for some categories of people and players, while instructing the rest of us to remain in the line.

China has been wearing a globalist toga for a while now, but has equally refused to open itself up for the rest to scrutinize its internal workings; the world is not only made up of dumb people, there are wise and smart ones too.

You only consider negotiation as a viable option when you believe the other party has something to bring to the table, else you can easily bully them to submission.

We shouldn’t be afraid whether 5G evolution is slowing down or not, but it’s important governments and people across the globe use this US-China thing to reassess their own partnerships and alliances; many have been too timid to complain or raise objections, even when it’s clear that they have beaten on all sides in the treaties.

After all the noise and punches, let’s see if it can give the global community a wonderful opportunity to rewrite trade rules. At the moment, some countries are simply too dumb to understand what could hit them in the future, except we clearly define this ultra-ambiguous word called globalisation.

Game on…

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.