SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST:
Inside Out by David Dodwell
Like all wars, the US tech war on China is proving costly and pointless
•The US is recklessly forging ahead with a campaign to block China, in particular telecoms giant Huawei, from access to the global market and advanced technologies
•Yet as China continues to lead in 5G innovation and has made strides in developing its own microchips, the US is hurting both itself and its allies
As I read the Post’s recent editorial, defining war as “the willingness to suffer significant self-harm to hurt a rival even more”, I was reminded of Donald Trump’s crass March 2018 tweet that “trade wars are good and easy to win”.
For a country so profoundly familiar with wars worldwide, it is a puzzle to me where such myopic naivety comes from, and why it persists.
Surely the principal lesson of war is that it is catastrophic for all parties concerned, bystanders included, and should be avoided at all costs.
Unlike democracy, which Winston Churchill described as “the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried”, wars are the worst way of settling arguments, with no exceptions.
A dozen or so of the US’ closest allies have joined in the 5G ban, but few of Huawei’s long-standing clients across Southeast Asia and Africa have severed links.
A recent report from the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations says Huawei still accounts for 70 per cent of 4G networks in Africa, with most expected to stick with it as they gradually upgrade to 5G. The company claims today to serve 140 5G networks in 59 countries.
This is in part because, despite repeated US expression of security concerns, no American companies have been able to offer an alternative (Huawei’s main competitors are Ericsson in Sweden and Nokia from Finland).
As the Council on Foreign Relations report said, “no US company offers an end-to-end 5G solution … Washington cannot expect countries to sit on the sidelines and forego upgrades to their networks while the US gets its act together..
Inside Out by David Dodwell
Like all wars, the US tech war on China is proving costly and pointless
•The US is recklessly forging ahead with a campaign to block China, in particular telecoms giant Huawei, from access to the global market and advanced technologies
•Yet as China continues to lead in 5G innovation and has made strides in developing its own microchips, the US is hurting both itself and its allies
As I read the Post’s recent editorial, defining war as “the willingness to suffer significant self-harm to hurt a rival even more”, I was reminded of Donald Trump’s crass March 2018 tweet that “trade wars are good and easy to win”.
For a country so profoundly familiar with wars worldwide, it is a puzzle to me where such myopic naivety comes from, and why it persists.
Surely the principal lesson of war is that it is catastrophic for all parties concerned, bystanders included, and should be avoided at all costs.
Unlike democracy, which Winston Churchill described as “the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried”, wars are the worst way of settling arguments, with no exceptions.
A dozen or so of the US’ closest allies have joined in the 5G ban, but few of Huawei’s long-standing clients across Southeast Asia and Africa have severed links.
A recent report from the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations says Huawei still accounts for 70 per cent of 4G networks in Africa, with most expected to stick with it as they gradually upgrade to 5G. The company claims today to serve 140 5G networks in 59 countries.
This is in part because, despite repeated US expression of security concerns, no American companies have been able to offer an alternative (Huawei’s main competitors are Ericsson in Sweden and Nokia from Finland).
As the Council on Foreign Relations report said, “no US company offers an end-to-end 5G solution … Washington cannot expect countries to sit on the sidelines and forego upgrades to their networks while the US gets its act together..
