Intel Photo: VCG
Chinese media discovered on Tuesday that US tech company Intel has announced, in a public statement on its website, it "does not use any labor or source goods or services" from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Not many American companies have done so. Most US enterprises, which Chinese people are familiar with, hesitantly and negatively support Washington's demands to boycott Xinjiang's products made by the so-called forced labor.
Intel dares to do so simply because there are very few Xinjiang products in its current supply chain, and its CPU is rigidly demanded in China. So Intel isn't worried about retaliation from China. Or it might feel that it is more important to please the US and Western society than to avoid offending China, even though China has been Intel's largest international source of business revenue for six consecutive years.
Intel has become a typical "cannon" which opens verbal fire upon China among the US business community. It helped boost US firepower in terms of a war of words toward China. The most odious part is that this is a typical example of those who "bite the hand that feeds them."
In my opinion, as long as Chinese people keep seeking truth from facts, we will not hold a grudge in the power struggle with other countries. The US is still stronger than China. Sometimes China cannot control US actions. Sometimes China can remain passive while the US behaves arrogantly. This is inevitable. Intel's overbearingness clearly exposes our weakness.
At the same time, we must also see that US' catering giants, automakers, machinery and equipment manufacturers, and Hollywood are exhibiting a milder attitude toward China. It mirrors the other side of China, namely the strong and powerful side. The power game between China and the US is constantly changing, and both China's domain and the middle ground are expanding. Room for the US to be unscrupulously domineering is shrinking. This is the big trend.
The Chinese people must be broad-minded and insightful. Regarding future dealings with China, if the US gets real, it will have to breathe heavily. We must respond to US tricks, but there is no need to pay too much attention to them. We need to focus more on China's domestic agenda. We will take our notebook out and write down Intel's name and its bad deeds. The stronger China becomes, the more capable it will be of fighting back.
The author is a commentator with the Global Times. [email protected]
