Controlling 5G Could Mean Controlling the World
“In the race to dominate the next generation of cellular networks both the US and China know there’s much more at stake than ultrafast internet. This is the new arms race.” (New York Times, Daily Podcast, Feb. 25).
This competition has become a crucial part of the escalating US-China trade war. The Trump administration has targeted the Chinese company Huawei, the second largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world. More important, Huawei is the largest manufacturer of the infrastructure required for 5G, the next generation of Wi-Fi technology. Huawei has 40% of the trademarks in the 5G technology compared to only 13% by US companies.
The Trump administration has barred Huawei from doing business in the US. It has also prohibited US high-tech companies from providing components and software to Huawei.
Huawei has a huge market share in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. It is in a commanding position to upgrade its existing global 4G networks to 5G. The US is far behind. It will be a decade before it can fully implement 5G.
Huawei’s chairman responded to the restriction on US firms from doing business with Huawei by admitting that it will be a short-term setback for the company. But he added, “In three years we will be at an advanced stage in technology where the US will never be able to catch up with us again.” These restrictions will also force the Chinese capitalists to manufacture state-of-the-art computer chips in China, a big blow to the US monopoly in this field.
The US lag in 5G technology is a serious blow to US capitalist interests globally. In a capitalist society, rival capitalists compete for profits by capturing larger markets. Their survival depends on their ability to maximize profit. One way they achieve this by using technological innovations to speed-up workers.
5G WI-Fi will deliver data several hundred times faster than the existing 4G technology. It will have dramatic applications in everything from road transport, maritime shipping, public transit, healthcare, factory automation, autonomous cars, trains, airplanes and farm machinery.
Drones equipped with 5G will be used in vast oil pipeline security and mineral exploration. Above all, 5G will be used in battlefield communications and command structure. All this will make the Chinese workers more productive and the Chinese army more lethal compared to the US.
Together with the vast Chinese global Belt and Road Initiatives, 5G technology will produce an enormous amount of Chinese goods more cheaply and move them at a lightning-fast speed.
The Chinese lead in 5G will also produce next-generation high-tech products that will make it very difficult for today’s leaders like Intel, Google, Amazon and Apple to compete.
US imperialists are facing a critical dilemma. They are losing their technological ability to compete in the global markets with the Chinese and as a result they are losing their traditional allies.
The Trump supporter Lou Dobbs said, “We have met an enemy and that is Huawei.” The US is putting tremendous pressure on the Europeans not to implement 5G networks using the “enemy’s” technology. In response, the Chinese capitalists are enticing European businesses with more investments and improved market access.
If US bosses become completely isolated from the European and other rulers, they will have no choice but to go to war with China sooner rather than later. We must understand and explain to many others that preparations for imperialist world wars for profit have already begun.
This is our opportunity to win the masses for communism everywhere as the bosses relentlessly attack the working class. Some comrades of ICWP in Pakistan are in touch with Chinese workers. They are urging them to form Red Flag study groups and join ICWP.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese workers live in horrific conditions due to the Chinese bosses’ drive to outpace other imperialists. The intensification of US-China imperialist rivalry is creating havoc for the working class around the world. These workers can be won to communism. They will form a formidable revolutionary force to defeat all imperialists. Our urgent task of the day is to recruit more members to the International Communist Workers’ Party.