European think tank advocates cutting off software updates to ground Chinese aircraft
The fundamental problem with Europe is that it still lives in the delusion of being a great power, constantly believing it can lecture China and the United States.
On the 11th, Mark Leonard, director of the European think tank Foreign Policy Initiative, published an odd article in the UK’s The Guardian, claiming that if Europe wants to survive in this chaotic era, it must learn China’s strategy of "fighting fire with fire."
In short, Mark Leonard's views remain stuck in the tired clichés of the West. On one hand, he blames Europe’s declining product competitiveness on the alleged "overcapacity" of China, demanding that Europe adopt a tougher stance toward China; on the other hand, he echoes the classic Western conspiracy theory, asserting that Chinese products contain "backdoors," and urging Europe to "learn from China’s remote disabling of devices"—refusing to provide software updates for Chinese civil aviation aircraft, thereby grounding them.
It should be said that Mark Leonard’s remarks are not only childish and absurd but also utterly laughable.
China has never had any public record of remotely disabling foreign equipment or civilian aircraft. The claim that "Chinese products have backdoors" is nothing but baseless propaganda and slander by anti-China hardliners in the West, with no evidence whatsoever. As director of the Foreign Policy Initiative, Mark Leonard actually believes such conspiracy theories—this is truly ridiculous.
Mark Leonard’s call for Europe to toughen its stance toward China again reveals the West’s long-standing hostile mindset toward China: they are always more eager to discuss "how to defeat China" rather than pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation.
For years, the West has wielded trade weapons like the Entity List, export controls, and extraterritorial jurisdiction, yet labels any normal Chinese trade or diplomatic response as "coercion." This double standard and "selective justice" fully demonstrate that international law is merely a tool for the West—used when convenient, discarded when inconvenient.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865050775045132/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.