China to nix containment

▶ US using more tools to slow rival development: analysts

After summoning US and Canadian ambassadors over the detention of Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou during the weekend, China on Monday again urged the two countries to take the case seriously.

“China has made its stance very clear and we hope that the two countries will take the case seriously,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily briefing on Monday.

As for what kind of “great consequences Canada will face if it cannot handle the case correctly,” that would totally depend on Canada itself, said Lu.

Meanwhile, outrage spread across China’s social media over what some internet users dubbed as a “rude and violent” move by the US and Canada. China should fight back with tit-for-tat measures, others suggested.

Chinese experts were convinced that the US targeting of Huawei, the country’s iconic brand, signaled

that Washington will exhaust all approaches, including administrative and judicial measures, to counter Beijing. China is now ready to fend off the pressure, they said.

Fang Xingdong, founder of Beijing-based technology think tank ChinaLabs, told the Global Times on Monday that the Huawei case might also worry US high-tech companies as they might fall victim to Beijing's strong countermeasures.

Companies like Qualcomm and Apple have a huge Chinese market, much larger than Chinese high-tech companies have in the US, Fang noted.

The detention of the Huawei executive is part of a strategic US upgrade to contain China's development, Chinese experts agreed on Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it lodged solemn representations more than once and said that Meng's detention and treatment was inhumane.

The medical facilities for Meng were not fully in place and she was treated in an inhumane manner, Lu said at the routine briefing.

Meng's detention was the latest move by the US to contain China and Chinese companies despite the two countries' efforts to ease trade tensions, Wu Xinbo, director of Fudan University's Center for American Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.

Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of American Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that “it is a definite trend that the US will continue to increase pressure on China with no sign of reversing.”

Wu said China is fully aware that it cannot depend on the US for hightech innovation and the country will become even more determined to promote its own independent innovation.

Chinese experts noted that the strong rhetoric and actions of Beijing showed the country was ready to counter unfair and unreasonable attacks.

Unlike politicians who profit from exploiting confrontations with China, US entrepreneurs will suffer from those confrontations and should pressure politicians to handle the case in a more rational manner, said Fang.

Trade talks safe

Analysts noted that although Meng's detention caused outrage in China, the incident will not derail the much-anticipated trade talks.

The two countries have reached a consensus that they need an agreement and are determined that their efforts toward that goal should not be derailed, said Liu.

But Fang said that containing Huawei could exert a significant impact on trade as Huawei is a global player with global suppliers that may therefore influence the talks.