Advertisement Trans-Pacific View author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with James Andrew Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is the 261st in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.” Assess the effectiveness of the Clean Network and 5G Clean Path in the Trump era. The Clean Network Initiative identified a major problem – the Chinese government uses any technological opportunity for espionage and surveillance – but it was never really implementable. It lacked a regulatory or legal basis, so it is best seen as aspirational. No one in their right mind should use a Chinese cloud service or undersea cables – it’s like inviting the Ministry of State Security or the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] to listen in – but it will take time for this lesson to sink in and some countries care more about cost than security. Clean Networks helped start to change that. It was an effective way to call attention to the problem of Chinese technological espionage but otherwise had little impact.