Hi everyone, this is Lauly, your #techAsia host this week, saying hello from warm and humid Bangkok. I hope you are enjoying the summer so far.
I am thrilled to be in the Thai capital this week, not only because I got the chance to meet my colleagues who gathered from across the region for a Nikkei Asia editorial meeting, but also because I am finally reunited with my longtime friend who I hadn’t seen for more than 10 years.
We were very close when we both did a postgraduate programme in the UK, and we remained in touch from time to time when I returned to Taiwan and she to China. But after she joined a very large Chinese tech company, a frequent target of Washington, we drifted apart over the years due to the nature of our jobs and the escalating US-China tech war. She was no longer able to freely share insights into her work and life like before, and I respected that.