Nations should reject US coercion to choose sides

Many countries have voiced concerns for being forced to choose between China and the United States amid the two countries' rising disputes on trade and national security, and their refusal to make such a choice will be critical to the future of a multilateral world.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last month that Southeast Asian countries are especially concerned, and must avoid being caught in the middle or forced into making invidious choices. Other Asian nations, too, don't want to be forced to choose between China and the US, he added.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has repeatedly said the EU does not want to choose sides between China and the US, and instead would use its own interests and values as a compass to chart its future course of action.

The leaders of African and Latin American countries, too, have expressed similar concerns.

Yet Beijing has not forced any country to choose sides. It is Washington that has been coercing countries to make such a choice by abusing its economic, financial, technological and military might.

The United Kingdom government's announcement on Tuesday that it would stop purchasing Huawei's telecommunications equipment by the end of this year and exclude Huawei from its 5G network by 2027 is a typical example of a country being forced to choose sides by the US. Which is borne out by the fact that US President Donald Trump claimed credit for the UK's decision just hours after the latter made the announcement. Speaking at a news conference in the Rose Garden, Trump said, "we convinced many countries, many countries, and I did this myself for the most part. I talked many countries out of using it".

Apart from banning Huawei from US networks and prohibiting the Chinese telecom giant from using chips made by American companies, Washington has also declared that it will not share intelligence with partner countries that allow Huawei to help build or use Huawei equipment in their 5G networks. Also, Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have made multiple trips to Europe as part of the US' coercive diplomacy and smear campaign against China and Huawei. And US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien's visit to Europe this week was also part of the same "mission".

The UK buckling under US pressure is exactly the kind of scenario that many countries want to avoid. The U-turn Britain has made on its decision in January to allow 35 percent of Huawei equipment has not only undermined the British government's credibility, it will also delay its 5G rollout by two to three years, and cost it billions of dollars, not to mention the souring of China-UK relations.

Further, the UK's capitulation will encourage the US to bully other countries on the pretext of national security concerns, and violate international norms. The UK learned a bloody lesson by following the US into the 2003 Iraq war, which was launched based on lies and US coercion that "you are either with us or with the enemy".

The good news is that Germany and several other EU member states have said that they will not ban any vendor completely from their 5G networks, which reflects the EU's principle of making its own independent decision and championing multilateralism, which is its motto for the upcoming 75th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Most countries have suffered the negative impacts of unilateralism and trade protectionism practiced by the US over the past three and half years, and realized the devastating effects of the US policies. And the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the wrong direction the US could lead its people and world into.

The US' efforts to destroy Huawei instead of taking measures to strengthen its enterprises and boost its economy by containing the novel coronavirus at home is nothing but a zero-sum game which all countries should reject and condemn.

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.