The U.S. leads in technology because it has a very solid foundation of technological development but China is catching up, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said in a 100-minute event moderated by CGTN's Tian Wei.

As for talk of the "decoupling" of the U.S. and China, Ren said both sides will suffer if that happens and no one will win.

He said China and the U.S. are like upstream and downstream of a river; both are indispensable. The upstream will also have problems if there is no downstream.

Ren also explained the operation of the market economy, saying it has a balance of different factors which are about managing and maintaining the healthy robust nature of the market.

"The law of the jungle is not suitable for human society," he said. "There are legal, religious and moral constraints in society. Huawei is open to sharing with society."

George Gilder, a tech guru and futurist, said America has been leading in many technologies because it "stole" from other countries in the past. Now it is trying to beat back an ascendant China, "a suicidal thing," he said. Gilder said the U.S. can only thrive when collaborating with other countries.

"We have semiconductors, then we think we can use semiconductors to negotiate with China. It is wrong. We don't lead semiconductors, but Taiwan (does)," he said. 

"It is false the U.S. leads in many technologies so they don't cooperate with others. This is an illusion."