Macroscope | Who is really to blame, when China supplants America as the global setter of standards, from 5G to infrastructure investments?
- The real reason 5G and the BRI create alarm and dismay with Trump is they point to China assuming the role the US has long been used to, as the setter of global standards
- A president who acts first and thinks later is divorcing, or at least alienating, his nation from the global agreements and pacts through which it exerted decisive influence
US Vice President Mike Pence is becoming adept at portraying China as the Evil Empire, bent on conquering the world, using everything from fifth generation (5G) telecommunications technology for covert espionage to luring unsuspecting countries into ruinous debt under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Pence seems to have been appointed China Denigrator in Chief, presumably so that his boss Donald Trump can continue to claim an “incredibly” good relationship with China’s Xi Jinping without appearing a total hypocrite.
But Pence’s tactics are simply exposing the lack of a coherent global strategy on Trump’s part. The real reason why 5G and the BRI are creating alarm and dismay within the Trump administration is that they point to a danger (as perceived by Washington) of China assuming the role the US has long been used to, as the setter of global standards, from technical (5G) to infrastructure investments (BRI).
Such a risk does exist, but if anyone is to blame for that, it would be Trump himself. A president who revels in acting first and then thinking later is divorcing, or at least alienating, his nation from many international agreements and pacts through which it exerted decisive influence in setting standards.
Even before former president Barack Obama signed up the US and 11 other Asia-Pacific nations to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the US was already crafting “new-style” trade agreements that would set a wide variety of strategically important technical and industry standards.