New battlefield in trade war! US threatens to crack down on Chinese cloud computing!

The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is evaluating how to retaliate against Beijing's restrictions on U.S. cloud computing and other high-tech service providers. The Wall Street Journal said this would open up a "new battlefield" in its trade war with China.

The Wall Street Journal quoted people close to the US official think tank as saying that the US Trade Representative's Office is considering whether to initiate a new trade complaint against Beijing's unfair restrictions on US trade in the high-tech services sector , and it is likely to be conducted under the framework of Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974. The person also said that the US Trade Representative has not yet made a final decision on whether to advance this complaint. If action is taken, it will be another supplement to the US's recent pressure measures on China.

The article said that Beijing requires American cloud computing companies such as Amazon and Microsoft to form joint ventures with Chinese companies and license their technology to their Chinese partners, while the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative stated in a report on China's trade practices that Beijing does not issue licenses to American companies operating independently in China.

The article said that the result of this is that American companies cannot promote their cloud computing services in China or register directly with customers. In contrast, Chinese companies such as Alibaba can operate in the United States without restrictions. "Many non-Chinese companies are reluctant to enter the Chinese cloud market because there are too many restrictions," said Swanson, global policy director of the Telecommunications Industry Association of the United States. "At the same time, the United States has no restrictions on foreign participants in our market. This is a clear reciprocity issue."

The Wall Street Journal said that whether the Office of the United States Trade Representative will further advance the complaint will become an important measure for the United States to further open up the Chinese market in the third wave, but at the same time it will also increase the risk of retaliation from Beijing.

The Wall Street Journal said that if the third wave of trade measures is launched against China, the United States will gain more bargaining chips. The U.S. Treasury Department is imposing restrictions on Chinese investment , and the person said that these restrictions may also be used in this trade case. For example, the United States may prohibit Alibaba from providing cloud computing services in the United States, or restrict the company's expansion in the United States until China relaxes its restrictions on American companies.

Traditional applications are becoming more and more complex: they need to support more users, require stronger computing power, need to be more stable and secure, and so on.

In order to support these growing demands, enterprises have to purchase various hardware devices (servers, storage, bandwidth, etc.) and software (databases, middleware, etc.), and also need to form a complete operation and maintenance team to support the normal operation of these devices or software. These maintenance tasks include installation, configuration, testing, operation, upgrade, and ensuring system security, etc. You will find that the cost of supporting these applications has become very huge, and their costs will continue to increase as the number or scale of your applications increases.

This is why even in large companies with excellent IT departments, users are still complaining that the systems they use are difficult to meet their needs. For small and medium-sized companies, or even individual entrepreneurs, the cost of operating and maintaining software products is even more unbearable.

The solution to the above problems is "cloud computing"! After deploying the application to the cloud, you no longer have to worry about those headache-inducing hardware and software issues, which will be solved by the professional team of the cloud service provider. Using shared hardware means using cloud services like using a tool (just like plugging in a socket and you can use electricity).

Our daily life and work are inseparable from cloud computing. The smooth ticket purchasing experience of 12306 during the Spring Festival travel rush, the government affairs verification that requires only one visit, etc., are all supported by cloud computing companies. Even behind Made in China, there is cloud computing, China Cloud.

Cloud computing provides powerful computer services to many companies, including storage, software, and analysis. This service is considered to be one of the most promising and fastest-growing areas in the technology industry. This time, the United States is targeting China's cloud computing breakthrough area and has also identified its "vital point."

Against the backdrop of Sino-US trade frictions, the United States has repeatedly stressed the threat to the United States from China's strategic development areas such as integrated circuits, 5G, and artificial intelligence in "Made in China 2025". As a leading 5G company, ZTE was forced to become the target of "precision strikes". The overall rise of China's communications industry chain is a historical necessity, and 5G is a once-in-a-decade opportunity for the upgrading of the communications industry. China's strong national will to develop high-tech information industries such as 5G is bound to conflict with the United States' hope for "Great America" ​​and to strengthen control of the commanding heights of the information industry. Faced with the historical opportunity of 5G, the wrestling collision between China and the United States at all levels, from operators, equipment manufacturers, to device manufacturers, may stimulate China's 5G acceleration, and the localization of core components will enter the fast lane.

In addition, from a global perspective, China has become the world's fastest-growing cloud computing industry base. According to a survey by the US media FT, China is catching up with the United States at an annual growth rate of 40%. Alibaba Cloud, a Chinese cloud computing company, has entered the top three in the world in the past two years . Currently, Alibaba Cloud has 43 availability zones around the world, covering 18 countries and regions including Europe, America, Australia, and the Middle East, and is chasing Amazon and Microsoft in the global market.

Entering a new era, Made in China 2025 is the Chinese government's first decade action plan for implementing its manufacturing power strategy, demonstrating China's adherence to the development policy of building a strong country in science and technology. Cloud computing has become the basic supporting industry for China's manufacturing. The development of Alibaba Cloud, a Chinese cloud computing company, has naturally become a key target of this US trade war.

According to US media reports, as early as May last year, representatives of the US Chamber of Commerce, whose main members include major US technology companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and Google, went to Washington to incite: "China's radical mercantilist policies are one of the most serious threats facing the future of the United States' advanced technology industry," attempting to use this trade war to restrict the development of Chinese cloud computing companies in the international market in order to curb China's technological rise.

Source: Sohu Technology, Huanqiu.com, Essence Securities, Zhihu

Global IoT Observation and Release

Please indicate the source when reprinting, thank you!

Related extended reading:

Breaking news, the US government announced a seven-year sales ban on ZTE!

Hu Yu of iFLYTEK: To deal with the trade war, China must rely on "hard currency"!

Regarding the US ban on ZTE, this is the most comprehensive article!!!

Today’s Core News: Regarding ZTE’s sanctions by the United States, the Ministry of Commerce and ZTE responded!