Trump’s China Policy ‘Erratic and Incoherent,’ Shuns ‘Coalition’-Building, Says Warner 

China under Xi is “employing the full power of the state” to build the infrastructure “and actually set the standards for new technologies like 5G wireless,” said Warner. The regime launched a “digital initiative to promote” Chinese telecom equipment, he said. “The goal is not simply to promote Chinese vendors, but to seed the global telecom market with equipment and services that could ultimately be exploited by Chinese security services.” The Chinese Embassy didn’t comment.

No Chinese company, “however global, is actually private,” said Warner. “These companies don’t make decisions entirely for economic or commercial reasons, because they are legally required to act as an extension of the Chinese Communist Party when called upon,” said Warner.

China’s science and technology policy's designed to “reshape the international order” in its favor, said Warner. “Again and again, we’ve seen U.S. companies forced into joint ventures with Chinese companies, or were required to share specific code or other IP.” American companies have been “put out of business after Chinese competitors stole their technology and produced their own world-class version of the American product with state subsidies,” he said.

Warner's “deeply concerned” about the Trump administration’s “erratic and incoherent approach” to China, he said. Though the administration has “rightly raised concerns about China,” as President Barack Obama “should have done earlier,” its “unilateral approach” to the China challenge “is not leading us toward success,” said Warner.

Rather than “building a coalition” with like-minded countries like Australia, India, Japan and South Korea to confront China, President Donald Trump “alienated our closest allies,” said Warner. Even if the U.S. is “successful in convincing our allies that Huawei and ZTE equipment presents significant security risks, we’ve got to have an alternative to point them to,” he said.

“Underestimating the importance of partners” in “advancing the most fundamental” U.S. goals toward China is “where the Trump administration has gotten it all wrong,” said Warner. “Our efforts to convince allies to adopt alternatives to Huawei have been constantly undermined, particularly when the president keeps hinting that the restrictions on Huawei could be used as a bargaining chip in the context of a trade deal.”

Trump “has minimized the importance of human rights and representative government” in dealing with China, “even when we see the protesters in Hong Kong standing up and singing The Star-Spangled Banner,” Warner said. The president’s “insistence on framing this as a conflict between our two countries has resulted in little tangible gain,” he said. The White House didn’t comment.

The U.S. needs a “comprehensive strategy to defend against China’s bad behavior, to compete with China in the 21st century and to strengthen the international order” that China “seeks to upend,” said Warner. “We can start by securing” IoT devices “before they’re exploited” by Chinese cyber spies, he said. Warner supported language last year in the annual defense bill “that would ban the use of ZTE and Huawei components in government systems,” he said. “We need a national strategy to deal with supply chains.”

The U.S. needs to get “a lot more serious about securing our telecommunications systems, especially when it comes to 5G,” said Warner. “That means relying on trusted companies to build our telecommunications infrastructure.” Warner supported the administration’s “initial steps” to limit the use of Huawei and other equipment from China, he said. “I just hope that the president sticks with these efforts.”