Fallout of Snowden expose
- By Fu Mengzi
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E-mail China Daily, July 13, 2013
Talking about the second aspect, the Hong Kong authorities allowed Snowden to leave for Moscow because the US State Department failed to provide them with enough evidence to justify his further detention. This issue will indeed have a major impact on China-US relations, but at this point of time it is difficult to say whether it will be negative or positive.
First, we have to remember that the central government allowed the Hong Kong SAR government to handle the incident on its own. Of course, the US will always suspect that Hong Kong followed Beijing's orders to allow Snowden to flee Hong Kong. But as two major powers, the US and China can always discuss this issue (as well as other issues) across the table. The question is: Will the US agree to do so?
The US should understand that Snowden's departure from Hong Kong avoided a negotiation that in all likelihood would not have ended in an amicable agreement and could have harmed bilateral relations.
Second, Washington has cited security reasons for preventing Chinese information and communication technology solutions providers Huawei and ZTE from investing further in the US. But eight big US companies, including Cisco, IBM, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, Apple, Oracle and Microsoft, "hold key Chinese sectors such as government, customs, post, finance, railway, civil aviation, medical service, military and police, maintain close contacts with the US government and military and as such there is zero threshold for the US intelligence to obtain information through their equipment, software and networks".
With their products playing a dominating role in key information infrastructure, these US companies can actually create havoc in China. So after Snowden's expos, the Chinese have the right to demand a thorough investigation into the matter.
Third, the Snowden incident may have cast a shadow over China-US ties, but it could also help Washington realize that, despite attaching great importance to bilateral relations, Beijing will never compromise on its principles or interests. So irrespective of whether China and the US agree or disagree, neither side should hold bilateral ties hostage to win a negotiation. Only with this understanding can bilateral relations develop soundly. That's why coming clean on the PRISM program will help the US to secure its ties not only with China but also with the rest of the world.
At the same time, it is also important not to exaggerate the impact of the Snowden incident on China-US ties, because the relaxed statements of Obama and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suggest that overall bilateral relations will not suffer.
The author is vice-president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. www.chinausfocus.com
