US and China need to repair tech ties: Microsoft president

Brad Smith says Big Tech must behave responsibly and adhere to regulations

Speaking from Washington D.C., Brad Smith said that tech companies, including Microsoft, "need to assume a new level of self-responsibility, and adapt to a future where we recognize that regulation is not only inevitable but, in fact, has an important role to play." (File photo by Getty Images)

AKITO TANAKA, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent

September 9, 2021 19:07 JST

SINGAPORE -- Washington and Beijing must try to improve their relationship and address issues around technology exchanges, Microsoft President Brad Smith said on Thursday during an online media session held by the company.

Smith, who leads various businesses, legal, and corporate affairs team of the U.S.-based software and cloud service giant, described the current U.S.-China relationship as "the world's most important bilateral technology relationship, and certainly the world's most complicated bilateral technology relationship."