It wasn’t long ago that the Trump administration strongly pushed countries to cut Chinese hardware out of their 5G networks. Washington’s overarching aim is to “competitively coexist” in as many third-party countries with China as possible to make sure none fall completely into China’s orbit. China is a state-directed economy, which means Beijing is able to more efficiently deploy Chinese businesses and funds in ways that directly benefit Chinese national interests. China hawks in the US will object to the US directing money toward countries who are also doing business with the Chinese. The Biden Administration feels confident in the US’s ability to compete with China abroad, leveraging the US’s particular strengths to do so.

Source: Philippine Star May 12, 2021 02:37 UTC