Cars are stacked ready to be loaded onto a ship for export at the port in Taicang, in Jiangsu Province, China, on July 16, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Published September 28, 2024
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) doubles down on its various aggressive strategies against the United States and our global partners, including the European Union and Japan, decoupling into two world economic blocs is accelerating.
This decoupling is alternatively portrayed as a “de-risking” or “fraying” of the economic, diplomatic, and military links between U.S.-allied and China-allied centers of power—the latter including countries that rely on China for their exports like Russia, Iran, and North Korea. As China exchanges links to the world’s top G7 economies—the United States, European Union, Japan, and Canada—for less lucrative or even costly links to relatively impoverished countries that ask for development aid and diplomatic cover for their misdeeds, the regime in Beijing is closing doors previously open to China and getting the short end of its own stick.
One of the most important links for China to the G7 has been the acquisition of cutting-edge Western technology on the cheap by sending students and professionals for education abroad to places like the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Now, that access to Western academia is being cut. The United States started in 2019 by investigating and then severing the CCP’s “Thousand Talents Plan,” which funded U.S. academic programs in exchange for science and technology expertise. Now, the public realizes that U.S. defense spending also funds research at U.S. universities that benefit China’s People’s Liberation Army. If the universities do not cut their ties to adversary militaries, that funding will soon end. You can, therefore, count on them to do so.
The Biden administration, which raised tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) to 100 percent in May, on Sept. 23 proposed a general ban on Chinese software and hardware used in vehicles that can connect to the internet. That would effectively ban Chinese vehicles altogether. Taiwan and the United States are meanwhile ridding China of supply chains that provide our military and commercial drones. The concern is that Chinese technology in drones and EVs could be hacked, hijacked, and then weaponized by the CCP against us in case of war. They could be used to track, target, or kill U.S. citizens.
This would fit the Chinese regime’s modus operandi of proliferating malware to attack U.S. critical infrastructure, like water supplies and electricity grids that are critical to hospitals and most everything else in a modern society. On Sept. 18, the FBI revealed that it had defeated a Chinese malware campaign infecting over 260,000 devices globally. The natural reaction of the United States and our partners is to accelerate decoupling, especially of devices that can be used against us.
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SOURCE: www.theepochtimes.com
RELATED: Tech decoupling points to path of mutual loss
Published September 28, 2024
In the context of globalization and informatization, the exchange and cooperation between China and the United States in the technology sector have played a crucial role. However, in recent years, with the rise of new technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, 5G communication and artificial intelligence, alongside the complex changes in the global political and economic environment, Sino-US technology relations are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities.
The discourse surrounding “technology decoupling” is becoming increasingly prominent, but before diving into that, it is essential to look beyond the surface and explore the pros and cons of technology decoupling, as well as how China and the US can seek broader cooperation and development amidst the new technological wave.
First, technological development has its own logic and rules. The rapid advancement of new-generation information technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, 5G communication and AI is driving profound changes in global industrial and supply chains.
This not only necessitates deeper cooperation and communication among countries at the technological level to adapt to the development and application needs of new technologies, but it also brings new growth points and competitive advantages to the global economy. For China and the US, as the world’s largest economies and technological powers, there is a broad foundation for cooperation and common interests in new technology fields.
However, as competition intensifies in the economic, technological and security domains, calls for technology decoupling have started to rise. This mainly stems from a reassessment and adjustment of each side’s technological strength, market potential and national strategic interests.
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SOURCE: www.chinadaily.com
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