Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Amplifying America's anti-China war cry, several US politicians have been dashing around the world, fabricating facts and creating political gimmicks they think will help their own interests. US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach is just such a politician. Keenly pushing a so-called Clean Network initiative that targets Chinese telecom producers, he claims that the program has successfully strangled the development of Chinese companies.

The US has brought nearly 50 countries or regions under the initiative, Bloomberg reported, citing Krach. "The success of the Clean Network has taken all the momentum away from Huawei," he boasted.

However, it is obvious that the US-led clique is unable to build a united front. 

Among countries announcing or signaling Huawei bans, France, without an official ban, reportedly decided to phase out Huawei gear by not renewing licenses for telecoms operators using products from the Chinese provider after three to eight years. Meanwhile, the UK set its deadline for removing Huawei gear to 2027.

The effectiveness of these policies is still questionable, especially since technology develops extremely quickly - not to mention the fact that some Western countries lack policy sustainability.

Under the catch-all guise of a national security threat, US politicians have tirelessly flown from country to country attempting to cajole or threaten countries and regions into taking its side and abstaining from cooperation with Chinese 5G developers. They are under enormous pressure to air these opinions and roll out measures based on the unproven "national security threat," even though replacing the Chinese technology will bring enormous losses and delay the 5G development.

Stripping away Chinese technology would delay the development of UK's 5G network by three years at the cost of around 7 billion pounds ($9 billion), local news outlet The Guardian reported, citing an industry report.

With the 5G era having already officially kicked off, any form of delay may forfeit the local telecom carriers' future, or even technological construction of a country. 

No matter how aggressive a stance Western politicians adopt, the economic losses and expanding disadvantages are real for many local telecom carriers, especially those that have developed long-lasting and comprehensive cooperation with Chinese companies.

Chinese firms have been forced to adopt a more prudent vision and adjust their strategies in order to shore up their core competitiveness, rather than simply expand their businesses. They have also been able to foster a more confident attitude thanks to the US' crackdown - a crackdown that was originally feared to be fatal.

From 5G developer Huawei and ZTE, to social media platform TikTok and many other Chinese tech firms that were unable to shun the US' bullying, not only have they stood firm, but they have proven themselves capable of growing on shaky ground.

The prospects of these Chinese firms remain undoubtedly bright as they continue to gather momentum with advanced technology and talent. Meanwhile, China, with a market of 1.4 billion people, is expected to be the only major economy realizing growth this year amidst the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. As one of the first countries entering the 5G era, China has steadily promoted 5G-related construction, with over 690,000 5G base stations already set up by the end of September, and more than 180 versions of 5G handsets already out in the market. 

Under such circumstances, the US' ill-intended China confrontation campaign is doomed to fail - and as a result, certain politicians' macho statements deserve little attention.

The article was compiled based on an interview with Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn