US uses Meng case to make the deal

Meng’s detention, together with Washington’s actions vis-à-vis other international incidents and events including the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist, reflects the US’ disrespect for both reason and international law. The US administration has yet again adopted an apparently pragmatic, but effectively self-serving, approach to international relations and rules — taking advantage of the ones that benefit it while rejecting those that impede its agendas, as can be seen in extending its laws’ reach to beyond borders in the Meng case.

Caught in the middle of building a new world order, every other country including Washington’s allies recognize its wrongs. Yet they can do nothing about it.

Washington is using the Meng case to put more pressure on China and increase the US’ leverage in the ongoing trade negotiations. In the remaining days before the deadline of 90 days, China should focus on the negotiations and avoid being distracted by such incidents staged by the US. The recently gained momentum in the trade talks should not be derailed, although the US is likely to create more troubles to realize its goal.

The US’ somewhat rogue behavior has sparked anger among some Chinese netizens, with some of them giving a call to boycott US brands represented by Apple and Qualcomm. However, we should realize that China is not at the same economic and technologically advanced level as the US.

More important, in this increasingly interdependent world it is neither reasonable nor practical to disintegrate with the US. Yet the China-US trade conflict has taught us a lesson: that it is extremely important to develop core technologies. And for that to happen, the government and enterprises both have to greatly increase their investments in technology research and development.

Chen Fengying, a researcher in global economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations