Commentary: The bogus 'China threat' theory

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-11 18:52

WASHINGTON - Although it has already proved to be a bogus theory, there's always someone who wants to play up the foolish "China threat" game.

Every time, the China-bashing backfired and ended up self-humiliating.

The latest example is a so-called "investigation report" that appeared in the online version of the Business Week recently.

It claimed that "fake computer chips from China" were to blame for some fatal crashes of US military aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan that hurt the Pentagon's war capability.

However, the author can only list two "episodes" related to the chip issue.

Without offering any solid evidence, the article jumped into the conclusion that there are "foreign espionage" threats because of the Chinese-made routers.

Although the article tried to catch attention by rebranding the failed theory of "China threat" with new topics of chips and routers, it didn't get the response it expected.

The charges in the article were not confirmed by the US government.

Rather, many readers raised questions about the facts, the logic and the motives behind the story.

In an Internet posting running after the story, a reader named "Truth" called the report "such a nonsense."

"How did these junk chips end up in the rural areas in China in the first place? I bet the United States exported the junk to China in the first place. How can the Department of Defense even consider buying the critical parts from some brokers on line and the best inspector in the world could not catch that? It is treating all Americans like idiots."

"I can't believe the Business Week even published such an article. Is it because it is tired of publishing how stupid the US policies are to get all the American families in such a big mess?" he wrote.

Another reader under the name of "James" pointed out that the chip issue is a problem of the Pentagon's own making.

"The mass of American brokers has a staff who are just high school dropouts, and that is where the big problem is. They just know how to buy and sell, beyond that it is the Pentagon's or the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)'s burden after earning fat profit from Chinese suppliers. The problem is with the American high school dropout controlled corrupt supply chain here. It is not China who is pushing us counterfeits," the posting said.

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