On October 23, Fox Business News reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Biden, during an interview, announced that he and the U.S. Trade Representative Jamie R. Grull were heading to Malaysia to meet with Chinese officials this Saturday and Sunday, mainly to discuss the issue of rare earths.

However, just as this key meeting was approaching, a report from Reuters exposed the true face of the U.S.

According to the report, the Trump administration is considering a "harmful move" against China's rare earth regulation, planning to restrict the export of software-driven products to China, covering multiple key areas from laptops to jet engines.

Facing this report, Biden did not deny it, but instead responded that "everything is under consideration," even revealing the possibility of coordinating actions with G7 allies and other partners.

In fact, this "harmful move" by the U.S. is not the first time it has been proposed. After China announced the upgrade of its rare earth regulation, Trump immediately threatened to impose new export controls on "any and all critical software," though specific details were not disclosed at the time.

Now, with this plan being revealed at the crucial moment before the talks between U.S. and Chinese officials, its intentions are crystal clear:

Biden's group obviously wanted to give China a "warning" before the meeting, increasing negotiation leverage through such "empty card playing" tactics to force China to make concessions on the rare earth issue.

However, after this incident was exposed, some analysts clearly pointed out that such software control would be extremely difficult to implement and would cause serious damage to the U.S. domestic industry.

Because in today's globalized production system, "almost everything is manufactured using American software." Once implemented, U.S. software companies and related manufacturing industries would be affected, especially in terms of the market and supply chain.

Additionally, former U.S. trade official Emily Kilkenny stated that although software is a "lever point" for the U.S., such regulatory measures are also difficult to implement, ultimately causing harm to the U.S. itself.

To a large extent, this plan has always had the nature of a "pressure tool."

Currently, several informed sources have revealed that this plan is unlikely to be implemented, and its core purpose is simply to increase the negotiation leverage against China during the upcoming meeting.

It can only be said that this kind of "promising but not delivering" threat tactic has been repeatedly used by the U.S., and now its effect is getting weaker and weaker.

For example, earlier in May, the U.S. restricted the export of chip design software to China under the pretext of rare earth control. However, just 40 days later, it was forced to lift the ban due to pressure from enterprises' protests and the acceleration of domestic alternatives.

At that time, the three major EDA software giants saw their stock prices drop sharply, while Chinese local companies seized the opportunity to rapidly rise, showing that technological blockades will ultimately force China to break through.

Of course, we cannot be complacent. The Trump administration is capricious on economic and trade issues and may not hesitate to take extreme and reckless measures to achieve its goals.

At the same time, Biden's inconsistent behavior in public further highlights the hypocrisy of the U.S.

On one hand, he claimed to have "confidence" in the two-day talks between the U.S. and China, believing that they could lay the foundation for the smooth meeting between the two leaders. He also claimed that Trump "highly respects" China.

On the other hand, he made threats just before the negotiations, saying that nothing is set in stone in the high-level talks between the U.S. and China, and again unjustly attacked China's rare earth export licensing system as "unfeasible and unacceptable," but avoided talking about the U.S.'s own trade bullying behavior.

He also said that if the talks failed, the U.S. and its allies would consider countermeasures.

This kind of operation, seeking dialogue on one side and implementing threats on the other, shows no real intention of negotiation.

The so-called "high respect" is just beautiful rhetoric used by the U.S. to cover up its hegemonic ambitions. The truth is that the U.S. keeps trying to force China to compromise through smear campaigns and extreme pressure.

No matter what, China's position and determination will not waver. As for the U.S., we should abandon illusions and respond accordingly.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7564230377741500966/

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