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Opinion | Why Europe shouldn’t fall for American hype against China’s belt and road plan

  • The US is bent on discrediting China in Europe. It pressures allies not to buy Huawei technology but ignores claims it spied on Germany. And it condemns Chinese detention camps but forgets the havoc it has wrought after September 11

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Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a business forum at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, Italy, on March 22. If Europe is disconnected from the opportunities generated by Chinese innovation, the continent could really become a museum. Photo: Bloomberg

To gather national strength, just create an enemy. In Europe, the Americans are doing this daily on many levels, from small businesses to countries and the continent itself. It is apparent from the media coverage last year that China has been designated “the great danger”.

The United States is devoting huge resources to discrediting China in Europe. It is mobilising its political and diplomatic corps to get the world, especially Western nations, to believe that if Chinese economic progress continues, the world might collapse.

The strategy seems to be to spread insecurity, suspicion and falsehoods, and to threaten misery if countries fail to follow the US.

Washington has threatened retaliation if the EU limits US involvement in pan-continental military projects. It has warned Turkey not to purchase S-400 rockets from Russia. It has pressured allies not to buy 5G equipment from Huawei, although other contenders, Nokia and Ericsson, also make phones in China.
How dare the Americans speak out against Chinese espionage, when they are reported to have tapped German ministers’ phones – and even Chancellor Angela Merkel’s?
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