Opinion | The most hypocritical statement of all time
By Tom Fowdy
On June 9th, the Five Eyes Nations, consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as Japan, issued a "Joint Declaration Against Trade-Related Economic Coercion and Non-Market Policies and Practices". The statement did not name any specific country, but it was obvious to everyone involved that its target was China.
The statement condemned what it described as: "trade-related economic coercion and non-market policies and practices that undermine the functioning of and confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system by distorting trade, investment, and competition and harming relations between countries", as well as "the threat of, measures affecting trade and investment in an abusive, arbitrary, or pretextual manner to pressure, induce or influence a foreign government into taking, or not taking, a decision or action in order to achieve a strategic political or policy objective, or prevent or interfere with the foreign government's exercise of its legitimate sovereign rights or choices." It then went on to say that such behavior impacts the "livelihoods of our citizens, harm our workers and businesses, and could undermine global security and stability."
It goes without saying, and perhaps beyond what words can contemplate, that the level of hypocrisy and double standards manifest in this statement is unbelievable. Clearly, the statement was a follow-up to what the United States wanted to include in the G7 statement, but was unable to do so due to its European affiliates, France, Germany and Italy, having a slightly softer disposition on China. Thus, it resorted to the cohort of its "most loyal" allies, the Five Eyes, as well as Japan, to push it through in explicit detail. It is quite staggering that they can say this with a straight face, let alone expects others to take it seriously, manifesting one rule for themselves, and another for everyone else.
First of all, who is distorting trade and investment, which harms relations between countries? Was it China taking small and targeted action against a US chip firm, or the US blacklisting thousands of Chinese technology companies on its Commerce Department entity list? Or subjugating the entirety of China's Semiconductor Industry to the Foreign Direct Product rule, and then forcing Japan and the Netherlands to follow suit? Or was it when they used the pretext of National Security to force allies to blacklist Huawei from their 5G networks? Or when they used the opportunistic accusation of "Forced Labour" to try and push China out of the Solar Panel and renewable energy supply chains? Or the forcing of countries to cancel certain Chinese investments in their national infrastructure?
Or perhaps it is the 60-year-long embargo against Cuba? Or the flouting of the UN-backed Iran deal to place crippling unilateral sanctions on the country? Or the measures which sent Venezuela and Syria into a humanitarian crisis by indirectly blocking every means of transaction to do business with the country? The list is endless. But what about the so-called "sovereign rights or choices" of such states? Does that include the threats directed at countries such as the Solomon Islands for seeking security cooperation with China? Or does it respect for China's sovereign rights with respect to the island of Taiwan or the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, amongst others? Can the US ever say that it has not used punitive measures to undermine or influence the sovereignty of other countries in respect to its geopolitical goals?
The factual and empirical reality is that there is no other country on this Earth that has utilized "economic coercion" on a grander scale than the United States, which has stopped at nothing to try and economically cripple its opponents in the name of upholding its own hegemony. In talking about a so-called "rules order" the US effectively reserves the right to do what it wants to other countries, but god forbid the idea that another power might dare to defend their own interests. This statement shows that the US does not fundamentally respect China as an equal, it expects it to be a "rule taker" and not a "rule maker" as an equal partner, and moreover that China's development must be conditional to the economic hegemony and dominance of the United States.
It believes that Beijing should not have the right to use its hard-fought economic development to defend its national interests when necessary, and even though China has in fact never treated other countries in the way the US has done, and merely asks its core interests to be respected, here the US projects its own crimes onto China. As such, this statement undoubtedly goes down as one of the most single hypocritical, insincere, dishonest and gaslighting efforts of all time. It is simply unbelievable that a country could lie and absolve itself on such a scale, yet here we are.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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