Masks against 5G, has China blackmailed France?

• The intervention of a US MP on Fox News has resurfaced on social networks in recent days, two months after its live broadcast in the United States.
• In this excerpt, Mark Green, Republican MP for Tennessee, accuses China of having blackmailed France about the masks of protection against the Covid-19.
• Such a deal has probably never been discussed between the heads of state of the two countries. Explanations.

A secret deal in the midst of the coronavirus, masks, 5G, Macron, China crisis, everything was in place so that the barometer of the “Fake Off” section of 20 Minutes quivered with impatience. For a few days, in fact, the declarations of the American deputy Mark Green (republican) have resurfaced on the canvas, in particular in a tweet of "Napoleon", alias @ tprincedelamour, unfavorably known by our services to convey a good number of information.

Here is what he wrote: "Exclusive: According to Mark Green, deputy of the homeland security council, #Macron promised China to choose Huawei for # 5G in exchange for a billion masks that never arrived. A scandal mixing blackmail and corruption that deserves (a) thorough investigation. Since it is asked so nicely, let's go!

Exclusive: According to Mark Green, deputy member of the internal security council, #Macron promised China to choose Huawei for # 5G in exchange for 1 billion masks that never arrived.
A scandal mixing blackmail and corruption that deserves a thorough investigation! pic.twitter.com/4UvK8SeWqa

FAKE OFF

This statement by Mark Green on the very conservative news channel Fox News (otherwise regularly accused of giving pride of place to conspiracy theories and false news) is very real. It dates from April 6, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, at a time when France was having a hard time getting protection masks against Covid-19.

"In France, we were told yesterday during a conference call that Macron had spoken with Xi Jinping and that he had asked for a billion masks [from China]. Xi replied, "We will give them to you if you are implementing 5G with Huawei." This is China and it is time for the world to wake up and recognize it, "declared the elected Republican, relay of the Trump administration to the Congress.

Contacted by 20 Minutes , the Elysée simply referred us to the response made by the French embassy in the United States at the time. "This point was not raised, neither during the last discussion between President Macron and President Xi or during other exchanges," she wrote. For its part, at the time of publishing this article, the Chinese Embassy in Paris did not respond to our questions.

❌This point has not been raised, either during the latest discussion between President Macron and Presidenr Xi or in the course of any other exchanges. https://t.co/OdC70SAM1V

An unlikely theory

For Jean-Philippe Béja , director of research at the CNRS, specialist in Chinese politics, "this case would not make much sense". "They were able to discuss the Huawei affair but I do not imagine that it went beyond," he says. Either way Huawei is in the running for the French 5G market. So I don't believe this thesis at all. "

For her part, Annick Cizel, specialist in American foreign policy at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris 3), judges this theory "little or not credible" for three reasons. The first is that the French Parliament voted in the summer of 2019 a law on cybercrime dubbed the “anti-Huawei” law. The text aims to "guarantee the development of 5G while preserving the interests of defense and national security of France" by establishing "a system of prior authorization" of equipment.

“So it's been a year since the French Parliament erected a protective barrier against possible interference by Huawei in the deployment of 5G. However, if I remember correctly, the Constitution does not give full powers to the President of the Republic. Understand: Emmanuel Macron could not on his own initiative engage France's responsibility on such a question of national cybersecurity.

A theory that goes against China's soft power policy

"Then," continues the teacher-researcher, "reflection is being carried out by President Macron within the European Union on the need for strategic autonomy for the EU in areas such as cybersecurity. I would find it rather bizarre, not to say schizophrenic, on the part of the French president, to hold a speech of strategic sovereignty in areas also essential for national security in order to finally make a similar deal with China. "

The third reason is due to the very nature of Chinese foreign policy at the time. If she does not rule out possible pressure from Huawei to win the 5G market in Europe, Annick Cizel thinks that “it would be counterproductive compared to Beijing's political strategy which is to develop soft power , to set an exemplary power on the pandemic, capable of offering the rest of the world health assistancewhich was until now the prerogative of the Western powers. It is difficult for her to imagine the Chinese regime compromising in such a scabrous exchange: "They are far too thin in their current policy to belittle themselves in that. "

The US “  double trigger  ” strategy on the 5G issue

Therefore, how to interpret this potentially false exit of the American deputy? "The Trump years are trivializing this type of statement in the mainstream American media," says Annick Cizel. We are in a "Trumpian" vein of using the media to convey statements bordering on the truth, even perfectly assumed untruths. "The goal being, according to her," to isolate China and make it pass for the perfect scapegoat of all the evils of the planet, to demonize it vis-à-vis a part of the American people with a view to the next presidential election on November 3. We shake the red cloth to mobilize the American electorate against the enemy from abroad, it's classic. "

But this exit from Mark Green "is a double trigger," warns the teacher at the Sorbonne. "For the Americans and the Trump administration, Emmanuel Macron is identified as the leader of Europe, it is debatable but it is so. So to attack him is to attack the EU. "Here, Mark Green insists on the Euro-Chinese axis which is sold to the population by Trump's allies as being an" axis of evil "," she explains.

5G, at the heart of an economic and strategic war China / USA

It must be said that the development of 5G has become a major geopolitical issue for the big powers. In the Wall Street Journal , US officials say Huawei is being forced by the Chinese government to install backdoors in its cell phone equipment for surveillance purposes.

"The guarantees of security for Huawei installations are nonetheless questionable," admits Jean-Philippe Béja. This is obviously an argument used by the United States to explain to their allies that working with Huawei would be like introducing the wolf into the fold, but behind it there are real questions to ask in terms of data security. Huawei claims to be a private company with no ties to the Chinese government, but that's a joke."

France at the center of all attention

What is certain is that Europe in general, and France in particular, are today at the center of the attentions of Beijing and Washington in the economic and digital war that these two countries are waging. "The Chinese are trying by all means to push their 5G by reassuring the Europeans," explains the specialist from China. However, France, which presents itself as a multilateral power wanting to stand out from the Americans, is a very important issue for China, and not only from an economic point of view but also from a strategic point of view. "

In the meantime, as our colleagues from France Info recently reminded us, the French government should soon issue equipment authorizations to telephone operators (Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues) for the deployment of 5G. They will have the choice between European groups (Nokia and Ericsson) and Huawei, which is not subject to any ban in France, unlike the United States which has banished the Chinese giant from their soil.

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• 5G
• Covid 19
• Emmanuel Macron
• Coronavirus
• China
• United States
• Fake Off
• Society