Mentioning Decoupling... Trump Hints at 'Confrontation with China' Separation

Labor Day Targeted Offensive Against Workers... Biden and China Linked as Goals
Wang Yi Calls "Unilateral Bullying by Individual Countries"... US-China IT Conflict Foreseen

On the 7th, Labor Day in the United States (local time), supporters of President Donald Trump are holding a boat parade. [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min, Beijing=Correspondent Cho Young-shin] U.S. President Donald Trump, who is intensifying pressure on China, mentioned decoupling along with high tariffs on the 7th (local time). He suggested the possibility of completely severing dependence on China, emphasizing the likelihood of a 'divorce' where each side goes its own way. This can also be interpreted as an offensive targeting the labor class on Labor Day by linking China with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. In response to the U.S. offensive, China proposed setting international standards for data security, signaling another conflict in the IT sector.

President Trump held an unscheduled briefing at the White House that day, stating, "Labor Day is a good time to talk about what we have suffered from China. There has never been any country that has exploited us (the U.S.) as China has."

He emphasized, "Under my administration, we will make the U.S. the superpower of global manufacturing. Whether through decoupling or imposing huge tariffs, we will completely sever our dependence on China." President Trump stressed, "We will create 'Made in America' by cutting taxes and imposing tariffs on companies that leave the U.S. to create jobs in China or other countries."

He also argued that China used the profits gained by exploiting the U.S. to strengthen its military power. He said, "They (China) are building a strong military. I was very lucky to strengthen our military power. Otherwise, China would have overtaken us by now, which would be terrible." He added, "We are far ahead on the nuclear capability front. I hope we never have to use it. But China is using the money we gave them to strengthen their military. Therefore, 'decoupling' is an interesting word."

President Trump shifted the responsibility for China's rise onto Joe Biden. He reiterated his stance that "If Biden wins, China wins." He again raised the possibility of Biden's son Hunter being involved with China. Trump claimed, "If we don't do business with them, we won't lose billions of dollars, and that's called decoupling. They take our money and use it to build aircraft, ships, rockets, and missiles. And Biden has been their puppet." Bloomberg News assessed that President Trump was trying to instill the perception that Biden is incapable of standing up to Chinese leaders.

The U.S. and China are also poised to clash in the field of IT data security. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that in response to the U.S.'s massive offensive targeting Chinese IT companies such as Huawei, TikTok, and WeChat, the Chinese government is expected to announce a 'Global Initiative on Data Security.' This is largely a countermeasure to the 'Clean Network Program' announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a month ago. The program calls for the removal of Chinese telecom companies, applications, cloud services, and undersea cables from internet infrastructure used by the U.S. and others.

Wang Yi, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, attended the 'Digital Governance Symposium' held in Beijing that day and emphasized the need to respect multilateralism and provide a fair business environment for all companies to effectively address data security risks. His remarks were widely seen as targeting the U.S. He stressed at the event, "It is blatant tyranny for individual countries to advocate unilateralism." He added, "The Chinese government strictly implements principles for protecting data security and will not require data from other countries for Chinese companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.