The announcement that troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan refers to a focus on dealing with the Chinese challenge, which Beijing calls a Cold War mentality. In Washington, two Trump-era officials, Bo Ming and Yu Maochun, called for the United States to adopt reciprocal principles to deal with the Chinese Communist Party, including restricting Chinese companies from investing in key U.S. technology sectors, limiting the entry of Communist Party members and their relatives and friends, and controlling the Communist Party’s abuse of free social media platforms.
U.S. Withdraws Troops from Afghanistan in Response to China’s Challenge to Beijing: Cold War Thinking
Biden announced at the White House on April 14 that he will begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan as of May 1 and stressed that the U.S. must focus on addressing other challenges, naming China.
“We must focus on the challenges before us, not on fighting the Taliban, and we must track and combat the terrorist networks and activities that have spread widely outside Afghanistan since 9/11. We must increase American competitiveness to meet the tough competition posed by an increasingly autocratic China.”
Biden also said the United States must strengthen alliances and work with like-minded partners to safeguard prevailing international norms threatened by the net and ensure that the emerging technologies shaping the future of humanity are based on democratic values, not those of dictators.
Responding to a related question at a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian criticized Biden’s statement as showing the “dark psychology” of the United States.
“The U.S. statement that the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is linked to the so-called response to China’s challenges reflects the dark psychology and deep-rooted cold war zero-sum thinking of some people, which undermines mutual trust between China and the United States and is not conducive to coordination and cooperation between the two countries on international and regional issues.”
Zhao Lijian said the current security situation in Afghanistan remains complex and serious, and the problem of terrorism is far from being solved. China’s position is that foreign troops in Afghanistan should be withdrawn in a responsible and orderly manner to ensure a smooth transition of the situation in Afghanistan and to avoid terrorist forces taking advantage of the chaos to sit on the ground.
The U.S.-led coalition declared war on the Afghan Ghadar Organization and the Taliban from October 7, 2001, in retaliation for the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States that year. Nearly 20 years later, the war on terrorism in Afghanistan has become the longest battle the United States has been embroiled in.
On April 15, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) held a hearing on “China’s Economic Ambitions,” featuring two key China policy officials from the Trump administration.
“The Trump administration and the Biden administration have a lot in common in their (China) policy approach.” Matt Pottinger, a former deputy national security adviser and current visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, gave this assessment of the Biden administration, which has been in office for more than three months. Members of Congress at the meeting expressed concern about the threat of Chinese expansion.
The administration should consider whether these investments will strengthen U.S. competitiveness against Beijing when planning policies and considering budgets, Pottinger suggested. At the same time, it is important to guard against the entry of U.S. capital technology into Chinese military and state-owned technology enterprises.
Yu Maochun, former chief China policy planning adviser to Secretary of State Pompeo and now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a U.S. think tank, mentioned three major characteristics of China’s economy during the hearing. First, China, a communist dictatorship led by Marxist-Leninist ideology, is fully integrated into the global free market system by exploiting its cheap yet large internal labor force.
“China’s labor force has no meaningful labor protections, no right to independently form unions, bargain collectively and fight for benefits. In Xinjiang, there has been a tragic genocide against religious and ethnic minorities, and disenfranchised laborers have been placed in concentration camps. The CCP has built a massive, state-sized sweatshop, and the world is paying for it.” Yu Maochun said.
Second, the CCP’s monopoly on power has led the Beijing government to exert strict control over financial resources. This control encompasses Chinese companies as well as foreign companies, and limits the right of the Chinese people to freely exchange money. He also mentioned that at least 27 Chinese billionaires have been arrested in the past 15 years, “on charges that are as bizarre as they are absurd.”
Yu Maochun named the case of Jack Ma Alibaba.” In the U.S., we applaud those who make Forbes’ list of billionaires; in China, being on Hurun’s list of the 100 richest can be added to the list of those who have been hit (by those in power).”
A third feature is the CCP’s lack of transparency in information about economic-related data.
Yu Maochun suggested that the U.S. government should respond to China’s negative list item by item. In the same way that China restricts U.S. companies, it should “reciprocally respond” by banning Chinese investment in high-tech farming, social science research, news media, film and culture, and key minerals.
He also argued that the U.S. government should be on the front line in responding to China’s crackdown on U.S. companies. He cited the example of China banning Twitter and Facebook from entering the market, which should not be just a problem for U.S. companies, but the U.S. government should resort to sovereign reciprocal action and not let U.S. companies become hostages of the Chinese Communist Party. He is worried about the way these U.S. companies are instead turning to lobbying agencies or Chinese Communist Party agents for help when they encounter Chinese Communist Party crackdowns.
Bo Ming: Banning Chinese software has nothing to do with freedom of speech
The Chinese government’s “reciprocity” approach was echoed by Bo Ming. He said the Chinese Communist Party is adept at using psychological warfare and rhetoric to portray the U.S. approach as the radical one.
“The U.S. government wants to show that this reciprocity is reciprocal and that we are guided by the principle of ‘fairness.'” He cited the example that when China arbitrarily detains U.S. citizens, or does not allow them to leave the country, the U.S. should respond by making it difficult for members of the Chinese Communist Party and their relatives to enter the United States.
He also cited social media as an example of China using the social media platforms of the free world to spread disinformation or cover up the genocide of a dictatorial regime, and then abusing the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to defend itself.
“This is not a First Amendment issue. The Chinese Communist Party has no right to control the channels through which tens of millions of American teenagers have a voice, what they can see, or even steal data about those children. We have taken action against about nine Chinese software titles, some of which have been appealed to the courts, and I think some judges have misunderstood the First Amendment argument.” Booming said.
Last August, the Trump administration had imposed restrictions on Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat on national security grounds. On Jan. 5 of this year, Trump again announced by executive order the banning of a number of Chinese software, including Tencent QQ, WeChat Pay and Alipay, aimed at curbing the data security threat Chinese software poses to Americans.
The executive orders have subsequently faced multiple legal challenges, and the Biden administration has yet to indicate whether it will continue to adopt them.
“I’ve gone to war to protect First Amendment values, I’ve been a journalist, and I’m a Marine.” Bomen again emphasized that banning Chinese software is not about free speech and that U.S. lawmakers should not condone the infiltration of Chinese Communist influence into young Americans and American society.
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