Just as curtains were drawn on the recent charade of Congressional grilling of TikTok chief executive officer (CEO) Shou Zi Chew in the United States last month, a bombshell dropped last week after revelations that extremely sensitive Pentagon files had leaked to U.S. media sites. Previously, both Democrats and Republicans had closed ranks on something they view as an existential threat to the superpower – Chinese technology.
The TikTok CEO had been asked to explain himself about the globally popular social media app in terms of “dangerous” content. The U.S. legislators claimed that TikTok breached data privacy laws in the country, and was involved in surveillance on behalf of the Chinese government. The legislators also claimed the app posed a danger to teenagers and was an espionage tool for the Communist Party of China.
When asked about TikTok’s use of user data, Shen responded, “With all due respect, American companies don’t have a great record when it comes to data… Just look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytics.” The CEO was referring to an incident involving the collection of personal data from Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a British policy consultancy, and other third-party apps which caused a storm in 2018.
In the light of the latest developments, the U.S. legislators must be cursing themselves for pushing Shou up the wall for something they are culpable of. The saga was all scripted in the U.S., from the culprits to the social media used for dissemination. It means that the U.S. is looking for culprits everywhere else apart from its own territory, making it easy for hackers to have a field day. After all, Chinese are the bad guys! It is a classic case of the enemy within. First is the format of the leaked documents. Someone took physical pictures, presumably by phone camera, and posted them as images.
Well, the Chinese espionage narrative has been a readily available scapegoat in attempts to curtail China’s rising and dominating technological prowess in the world, from social media to military technology. In a case of obvious envy, the U.S. government has banned the sale and import of technology from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE. In addition, the U.S. proscribed Chinese made video surveillance cameras like Hikvision and Dahua.
It is instructive that U.S. restrictions of Chinese technology began with former president Donald Trump as part of his trade war with China. Apparently, President Joe Biden’s administration endorsed the stratagem and has been pushing it to ridiculous levels. Biden upped the game by banning the sale of microchips to China.
The U.S. attributes these shenanigans to what it says is an “unacceptable risk” to its national security. But few are fooled by these anti-trade sanctions. They are aimed at poisoning the vast market for Chinese technology around the world and, most importantly, in the West with its multi-billion-dollar market.
Indeed, the U.S. does not have to keep fishing for Chinese phantoms as the real dangers of the country’s national security. There are enough Americans who feel aggrieved and are disgruntled by the country’s governance, both at home and abroad. This is most likely the case with the latest incident of espionage – someone or people who are against the country’s foreign policy on the Russia-Ukraine war and worsening Arab relations.
A couple of case studies will suffice to lay bare why U.S. onslaught against Chinese technology is absolutely malicious. The following incidents were enough to have gravely compromised the country’s national security, if at all such fears are genuine. But these are inconvenient home truths that are preferably swept under the carpet and attributed to an “external enemy”.
In 2013, former computer intelligence consultant Edward Snowden leaked top secret information from the National Security Agency (NSA) when still under employment. His revelations uncovered numerous global surveillance programs, many operated by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance in collaboration with telecom companies and European governments.
Australian editor, publisher, and cypherpunk activist Julian Assange was convicted in Australia for hacking and publishing online millions of classified documents leaked to him by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010. His non-governmental organization, WikiLeaks, uploaded caches of documents revealing gross violations of human rights and civil liberties both nationally and internationally.
To bring it still nearer home, Trump and his successor Joe Biden were early this year found with hundreds of undeclared classified documents containing State secrets in their homes. While they may be the end user of such sensitive information, it was unacceptable to have them removed from safe custody and potentially exposed to third parties.
Continuing to sabotage Chinese technology in the U.S., and the West in general, is proving to be a self-defeating exercise. Banning Chinese technologies is denying the U.S. many innovations that would have revitalized its struggling economy.
Ultimately, the world is largely wired with Chinese technology by default of the country’s leading technological innovations across many sectors. Only cooperation and mutual trust will save the U.S. from its fears and insecurity of Chinese technology.
