The New US China Act: How far can containment in the name of competition go?

　　(International Review) The New China Act in the United States: How far can containment in the name of competition actually go?

　　China News Service, Beijing, June 10th. Title: The new US China Act: How far can containment in the name of competition go?

　　Author Zhang Huandi

　　On the 8th local time, the U.S. Senate officially passed the "American Innovation and Competition Act of 2021."

The bill involves a huge investment of 250 billion U.S. dollars. It is nominally concerned about the country's future scientific and technological development, but its focus is still on the old-fashioned China-related issues.

Looking at the full text of the bill, it is not difficult to see that this is another freak created by the combination of an old-fashioned Cold War mentality and prejudice against China. It runs counter to the common desire of China and the United States to strengthen exchanges and cooperation.

　　The "American Innovation and Competition Act of 2021" has a lot of origin. Its "previous life" is a bill engraved in the bones of "seizing hegemony and defeating China" since its inception-the "Endless Frontier Act."

　　The "Endless Frontier Act" was released in May 2020. The bill approved the allocation of more than 110 billion US dollars in the next five years for basic and advanced technology research in the United States.

However, the word "China" appears 6 times in the full text of the bill, and it is also the only name of another country mentioned in the "Endless Frontier Act". Its "good intentions" can be seen.

　　One of the proponents of the bill, the Democratic leader of the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, made it clear: “This bill will enable the United States to beat China and other countries in the competition.” Another proponent of the bill, Republican Senator Todd Younggen Call it the "China Act" directly.

　　However, this bill, which the US government has high hopes for, has not been approved by Congress for a long time.

Analysts said that the core problem of the bill's failure to be approved is that the budget has been increased too high.

　　It turned out that Schumer initially chose to submit this bill to the six Senate committees for discussion and voting, and each committee wanted to add some budget clauses to the bill, which eventually led to a surge in the original budget of more than 110 billion US dollars. 250 billion US dollars.

In the words of a Republican senator: "This number is not enough to add zero." Republicans in the Senate stated that they would not approve the bill unless they cut the budget.

　　After such chaos, seeing the hopelessness of passing, the "Endless Frontier Act" was forced to change its name, delete it, and add a lot of content. The "Reincarnation" became the "American Innovation and Competition Act", which was passed to the Senate for approval.

　　Interestingly, the "high budget" complained by various lawmakers has not been cut this time, and the "plus 250 billion US dollars" is written into the new bill.

It's just that this budget has achieved "rain and dew". It no longer allocates nearly 90% of the budget to the National Science Foundation like the "Endless Frontier Act". Instead, it provides a budget for every department connected with scientific and technological development. Budget.

　　An important bill that claims to help the United States "regain technological hegemony" and "use technology and diplomacy to counter China" has run into a wall because of the "money" issue, and was even forced to "rename and rebirth." This can't help but make people wonder. Is the bill proposed by a small number of politicians setting the tone for the wrong US policy toward China, or is it just using the name of "against China" to collect money from US politicians?

If it is the former, it just proves that some American politicians still hold the outdated Cold War mentality, which is the biggest culprit that undermines the overall situation of Sino-US relations and leads to de-globalization; if it is the latter, it can only show that the US political circles regard China as " "Imaginary enemy" is another picture.

　　The nascent "American Innovation and Competition Act of 2021" inherited the core ideas of the "previous life", covering the six fields of science and technology, American manufacturing, artificial intelligence, cyber security, international alliances, and aerospace, and mixed into more outdated and arrogant Prejudicial thinking, especially the issue of China.

　　The new bill no longer has the same reservations as the "Endless Frontier Act", and almost has to write "against China" into every corner of the full text.

For example, the United States is required to strengthen cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as Japan and Australia to prevent the export of Chinese products produced by "unfair trade methods"; the US State Department is required to announce all Chinese companies that use "unfair trade methods"; and government agencies are prohibited from buying China. The company's drones and so on.

The bill even states that federal government employees are prohibited from downloading overseas versions of Chinese social software on government devices.

According to U.S. media reports, Democrats in the House of Representatives are also preparing to revise the wording of the bill, requiring U.S. diplomats to declare a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

　　However, on the issue of China, not all Americans, like these politicians, fall into the "zero-sum game" thinking trap, believing that with the rising China, "there is only life and death, no win-win cooperation."

　　On May 17 this year, the Quincy Institute for State Governance, a US think tank, and 65 US institutions and organizations published a joint letter entitled "The Cold War with China is a Dangerous Self-defeating Strategy", calling on the US government to stop using the demon. The way of transforming China will shift the public's attention to the security of the United States." This move "will not serve the American people," and it will "cause further insecurity and division."

　　The joint letter clearly pointed out that a series of anti-China policies represented by the "Endless Frontier Act" show that both parties in the United States are gradually leaning toward a dangerous short-sighted worldview, and "inevitably contributes to domestic racism, xenophobia, and White nationalism".

　　As the joint letter said, the biggest problem facing the United States at the moment is not another rising power at all, but the proliferation of guns, the wanton growth of racial discrimination, and the lingering new crown epidemic that is difficult to control in the country.

The U.S. government has repeatedly emphasized the "China threat theory" five times, but it is shifting the focus of the domestic people’s attention, trying to make the American people no longer worry about the shooting incidents that occur from time to time, and no longer speak out for the discriminated minorities in the country. Condolences for the deceased in the new crown epidemic, let alone think about the root cause of the above problems.

　　It has been 30 years since the Cold War, but some countries and a few politicians are still reluctant to face reality and are immersed in the halo of the former dominance of the world.

You know, the real world is not a Hollywood movie. The protagonist with a Western face can always defeat his opponent in the end.

As everyone knows, in the real world, their "adversary" has always been the builder of world peace, the contributor to global development, and the defender of international order. The honourable Western "protagonist" has become the greatest threat to world peace. A stumbling block to global cooperation and development, and a source of chaos for world stability.

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