Letter to the editor: China is not our friend

OPINION:

Real friendship is a two-way street. A fake friend is only in it for what he can get out of it. His goal is not reciprocity, but the biggest possible imbalance in his favor.

And when you finally stand up for yourself, if he’s particularly manipulative, he’ll respond by acting hurt. “Come on,” he’ll say. “I thought we were friends.”

China tried to pull this trick recently when it attacked the Trump administration for blacklisting 60 Chinese companies — including online retailer Alibaba and electric carmaker BYD — over their alleged ties to Chin’s military.

The Chinese seem to think that after one good meeting between President Trump and Xi Jinping, the U.S. should be willing to set aside our interests and sing kumbaya with our greatest geopolitical adversary — while it continues to undermine our national security interests.

We’re supposed to forget that China has been taking advantage of us for decades. America remained willfully blind to these realities for far too long, but we’re finally waking up and playing to win.

And yes, we’re cracking down on Chinese companies with links to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Sometimes that means a lobbying ban or removal from military supply chains. Other times it means helping American companies succeed so that Chinese firms don’t dominate the global market.

The administration uses export controls to keep the most powerful artificial intelligence training chips from falling into the hands of Chinese tech giant Huawei. And last year, the Justice Department approved a telecom merger between HPE and Juniper after the intelligence community pointed out that creating a large, new American firm to challenge Huawei across the globe would be a win for our national security.

China’s “I thought we were friends” schtick might have worked under previous administrations, but not this one. The days of America treating China as a member of the international community in good standing are over.

We understand that China poses an existential threat to American security and prosperity. China is not our friend and no amount of crocodile tears from their embassy will convince us otherwise.

DEYU WANG

Director, Citizen Power Initiatives for China

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania