National security in the cell phone key 5G – 08/02/2019

In the simple vision of a broad political tribe, national security is a contested concept, as it is believed, and not by the terrorist ghost or a real military enemy. What would measure the magnitude of this existential danger, it is the number of Japanese or German cars that circulate in the streets of the American cities. It was US Trade Minister Wilbur Ross who told CNBC in May that the president Donald Trump has asked him to investigate vehicle imports over the past 20 years. The president understood that this flood was not due to a question of inefficiency of local automakers but exposed "a clear threat to national security by weakening the US economy".

Ross, perhaps persuaded that it might be surprising, went further explaining by saying that "national security includes the economy, the impact on employment and a wide variety of things … Economic security is military security, without economic security, there is no military security, "Ended in almost dialectical key.

There is some certainty that should be recognized in this argument, but certainly not what the minister would prefer. Far from the composition of the patriotism with which they were justified, most wars throughout history have been the resolution of economic contradictions. Both for the spaces that a competitor should not occupy or those who would eventually occupy with the support of firearms. But all this story of Ross and Trump has a strong archaic flavor.

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It is based on the borderline idea of ​​borders as walls, the weight of the national and the hypothesis that a coherent economy is what multiplies its production on the native territory. Is it a national security issue for Italy that Germany, its leading auto parts buyer, has significantly reduced its orders? Should Rome go to war against Berlin to resolve this dissent?

The decisive icon of these designs is Trump himself when he asks American companies to "go home." With this vision, the mantra of "America first" pretends to ignore the progress of technology, the vertical and horizontal economy and the reality that businesses are now spread across the globe to improve their efficiency and benefits.

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These notions matter because they are the ones who construct the parameters and the senses of the American shock. with its gigantic Chinese competitor. This conflict, the most serious of the time, certainly exceeds Trump and involves national interests beyond which the two major American parties unite. The problem, however, are the methods. As you know, the purpose of the confrontation is to prevent the Asian giant from taking the lead in its economy and even less to do so in the technological world by moving the United States. The arrest in Canada of Weng Wangzhou, financial executive of the Huawei Corporation, against which Washington has just filed numerous criminal charges, ranging from the theft of patents to commercial transactions with Iran, is a fundamental chapter of the dispute. This forehead is not casual. Huawei leads 5G telecommunications technology and is the third largest mobile phone maker about to move this year from second place to the North American apple. It is also the face of the Chinese scientific advance that recently created its first quantum computer, a prototype 24,000 times faster than its international counterparts and which has just placed a space vehicle on the hidden side of the moon.

The United States is in third place on some tracks of this race behind South Korea and China. That's what's happening with 5G technology. The jump of the current 4G (generation) equates to the ability to support up to a hundred times more connected devices than is possible with current technology. C & # 39; a central advance for what is known as the Internet of Things, a reality with multiple automated equipment, vehicles, smart homes, home appliances and virtual reality. With a speed 100 times faster than the wireless systems we use today and huge applications in defense, the one who runs this technology will capture a significant global investment and scale benefits.

Today, it is estimated that there are nearly 7 billion devices connected to the Internet in the world.. In a few years this number will reach 21 billion. In 2020, China plans to deploy large scale 5G commercial networks. Between so much the USA to envisage investments up to 275 billion US dollars to try to win this race. Private sector entrepreneurs in North America recognize that China is making progress through a combination of strong industry and open government support. All of this in a vertical governance model that drastically reduces the stages of management.

It is this factor of modernization that triggered the trade war, an incident that complicates China and constitutes a boomerang for Washington, called to alleviate the conflict by the fall of the world economy and the economy. American himself. Hence the ongoing negotiations with Beijing that began with the truce concluded in Buenos Aires and expires on 1 March. But it is still Ross who explained to the Bloomberg agency that the powers are very far to find a solution to their differences. This is because the United States, in keeping with the archetypal example of the automobile, mean by "solution".

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Washington blames the state that blind state support is invigorating the place of Chinese companies worldwide, in addition to the theft of inventions for the transfer of knowledge that companies based in China have to offer. People's Republic. Beijing says it's part of the trade deal with companies, including North American companies, seeking access to its market. However, these rhetorical exchanges are no more than the litter of the battle. The People's Republic wants to emerge from this conflict and has amended its patent protection laws and proposed to expand the openness of its economy. But the US is asking for "structural reforms that we think are needed for the Chinese economy," says Ross, "with sanctions in case of non-compliance with the agreement." That is, Washington would suggest the programs of the Chinese economy and its legal system and would also reserve the right to control their compliance and provide for sanctions. All this for reasons of national security.

It sounds unrealistic and that's it. A note from the People's Daily, the newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party, reported in mid-January that, during the talks, the United States posed "structural problems, some of which involved the national system, the security and ideology of China., which for China is unacceptable … "Ross's statement erases the content of this comment. Beijing does not seem willing to give up its technological career, but there are possible concessions to ease the Western pressure that interferes with the projection of Huawei among other large companies. The challenge is how to implement the coexistence of two similar weight savings. In February, Trump will meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un again. Beijing proposed that after his appointment with his colleague Xi Jinping on the island of Hainan, in southern China. The American smiles out of necessity at this possibility which would automatically prolong the truce. Like the world, the former Central Empire also benefits from this smile. And for the same reasons.

Copyright Clarín, 2019.