hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices exert grave harm
as two major countries, china and theunited states should carry out necessary cooperation. this is the due responsibility of major countries, as well as thecommon expectation of the internationalcommunity.（photo: vcg）
by tang zhexiao
on february 20, china released a report to shed light on us hegemony and its perils, presenting relevant facts to expose its abuse of hegemony in political, military, economic, financial, technological and cultural fields.
since becoming one of the world's superpowers post cold war, the u.s. has developed its own hegemonic playbook, bringing harm to the international community.
besides interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and ramping up bloc politics, it deters many countries' scientific, technological and economic development by wielding monopoly power, suppression measures and technology restrictions in high-tech fields, causing worldwide outrage.
the u.s. has been politicizing technological issues and using them as ideological tools for a long time.
its crackdown on huawei has become one of the technology industry's most talked-about topics. overstretching the concept of national security, the u.s. mobilized state power to suppress and sanction chinese telecom's companies, particularly restricting the entry of huawei products into u.s. market and cut off its supply of chips and operating systems, while also coercing other countries to ban huawei from undertaking local 5g network construction.
washington claims that the core issue with huawei has been the fact that the company may have been working closely with the chinese government, which led them to accuse the tech giant of cyber-espionage.
in reality, there is currently no evidence to back this claim. according to politico's reports, hardware supplied by huawei was equipped within 300 meters near the 59th munich security conference venue, which fully demonstrates that huawei 5g equipment does not pose security threats.
chinese social media apps such as tiktok and wechat are suppressed by washington either.
to date, the u.s. has 113.3 million active tiktok users aged 18 and above, which is more than one third of the u.s. social media users, said datareportal, an online platform specialized in data report.
kian vesteinsson, senior research analyst for technology and democracy at freedom house, says a nationwide ban on tiktok would be a "mistake," and the real problem is the country's lack of laws protecting data privacy at the federal level on all applications.
tiktok is not the only app that stores information of its users. instead of a ban, the u.s. government should strengthen privacy protections and bolster transparency requirements for all social media platforms.
meanwhile, by building small blocs on technology such as the "chips alliance" and "clean network," the u.s. fabricated excuses for its technological blockade.
in may 2019, the u.s. enlisted 32 countries to the prague 5g security conference in the czech republic and issued the prague proposal in an attempt to exclude china's 5g products.
in april 2020, then u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo announced the "5g clean path," designed to build a technological alliance in the 5g field with partners bonded by their shared ideology on democracy and the need to protect "cyber security."
in 2022, more than 1,000 chinese companies were added to various lists of export controls and sanctions by the u.s. and the chips and science act was signed into law with the primary aim of countering china.
in january 2023, u.s. commerce department said it would no longer issue licenses for us companies that have been selling essential components to huawei, according to the financial times.
the measures, in essence, are the u.s. attempts to maintain its technological hegemony through tech alliances. they are harming china without anyone gaining any benefit, which undermines the stability of the global industrial chain.
as the report noted, the u.s. must conduct serious soul-searching. it must critically examine what it has done, let go of its arrogance and prejudice, and quit its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices.
if washington continues to block the road for others, it will only end up blocking its own way.
