Hegemonic pursuit, not national security, is behind WeChat ban

CGTN | 21-Sep-2020

Editor’s note: CGTN’s First Voice provides instant commentary on breaking stories. The daily column clarifies emerging issues and better defines the news agenda, offering a Chinese perspective on the latest global events.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler halted the Trump administration’s ban on Chinese-owned app WeChat on Sunday. Despite the Justice Department’s urge not to block Trump’s order, Beeler insisted that “certainly the government’s overarching national-security interest is significant. But on this record… it has put in scant little evidence that its effective ban of WeChat for all U.S. users addresses those concerns.” Earlier, the Department of Commerce announced it would bar WeChat downloads in the American market on national security grounds. But having accused the Chinese app of collecting “vast swathes of data from users,” the department has provided no solid evidence so far. Beeler’s Sunday decision has further demonstrated the accusations against WeChat are groundless.

Washington’s ban on WeChat has nothing to do with national security, but is a fresh attempt to remove Chinese influences from the American market. The same tactic has been deployed on TikTok, Huawei and other Chinese giants that the Trump administration deemed a challenge to America’s tech dominance. WeChat, according to Apptopia, has an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States. TikTok reported nearly 700 million monthly active users in July. Their popularity, for American anti-China hawks, means a threat to the future of American tech giants. It is in this context that Washington announced the ban. Kicking these Chinese companies out from the United States is not enough. American politicians have been straining every nerve to woo allies to follow suit, and “national security” is always a convenient excuse.

The private data that WeChat and TikTok collected from American users is no different from those required in registering accounts on American social media platforms. Their connections with China are their original sin. This is the root cause for the ban on them. For decades, the United States has considered itself as a bastion of freedom. But in reality, freedom will always have to give way to the country’s hegemonic pursuit. To ensure its tech dominance, the U.S. government is adept at using state power to suppress non-American businesses. Its ban on Chinese tech firms is a blatant violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment that guarantees freedom to communicate.

This is a consensus echoed by many lawyers. The U.S. government’s order “trampled on their First Amendment guaranteed freedoms to speak, to worship, to read and react to the press, and to organize and associate for numerous purposes,” Michael Bien, a lawyer for the app’s users, was quoted by Reuters as saying. Shouting freedom, Washington is blatantly breaching the Constitution for tech dominance. It’s a pity that decades after the end of the Cold War, American politicians are still obstinate in zero-sum mentality. Be it WeChat or Huawei, any Chinese success would be viewed as a threat to the United States.

McCarthyism-based hostility against China will only cost the United States’ long-term competitiveness on the world arena. All countries, be developed or developing ones, are playing a part in the global industrial chain with their interests intricately intertwined. This is how globalization works. Saying no to this irreversible trend will only make America isolated. While companies from different countries are cooperating for the best results with their comparative advantages, American firms will be gradually eliminated in the process. In the era of global integration, cooperation, not confrontation, is the major theme. To develop and thrive, a country needs to accept differences and learn to cooperate. Suppression of rivals for hegemony will eventually backfire. In WeChat’s case, the Chinese company is not a threat to the U.S.’s national security. Washington’s ban on it may bring it some short-term benefits, but it is at the cost of the country’s long-term development. Scriptwriter: Liu Jianxi

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