As a continuation of Hideo Tamura’s essay, this article examines China’s aid diplomacy during the coronavirus crisis, the expansion of the Belt and Road sphere, and the spread of its totalitarian model into developing countries. It also warns of China’s possible economic advantage over advanced Western nations through Wuhan’s semiconductor plants, Huawei’s 5G offensive, China Mobile’s massive investment, and AI-driven surveillance technologies.

April 7, 2020
Chinese companies and people will take advantage of this opening and advance on a large scale, incorporating those places into the Chinese sphere.
The nightmare of classical imperialism described by the communist Lenin could spread across the earth.
The following is the continuation of the previous article.
Semiconductor factories operating without rest
Then came the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Even if one cannot simply swallow the official headquarters-style announcement that there were zero new coronavirus infections in Wuhan and other places, once the peak of infection has passed, as stated at the beginning, China launches an offensive of aid diplomacy toward Europe and other countries and regions that cannot prevent the spread of infection.
Countries participating in the Belt and Road also brought in the virus crisis originating from China, but in order to stop it, they have no choice but to accept China’s support.
An even greater problem is the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where novel coronavirus infections may spread in earnest from now on.
The Xi administration will probably launch an even greater aid offensive than it has toward Europe, and will adopt a strategy of expanding the Belt and Road sphere.
Many developing countries, which tend to lean more toward authoritarianism than democracy, will be attracted by the efficiency of the totalitarian model and will leave the circle of freedom and democracy.
Chinese companies and people will take advantage of this opening and advance on a large scale, incorporating those places into the Chinese sphere.
The nightmare of classical imperialism described by the communist Lenin could spread across the earth.
Another point of caution is the possibility of China gaining economic superiority over advanced countries, beginning with the United States.
Interruptions in automobile factory production are spreading throughout the United States and Europe.
In free-market countries, where investment is made according to demand, corporate strategies also fall behind.
But in China, under the directives of the Party Central Committee, strategic industries are steadily advancing production and investment, attempting to turn this into an opportunity to expand their share of the world market.
In Wuhan, the birthplace of the virus, state-of-the-art semiconductor factories are operating without rest even under the lockdown system.
Huawei Technologies, the Chinese high-tech company that the United States is most wary of from the standpoint of national security, is launching an offensive to sell the next-generation mobile communications system, 5G, to countries including Japan.
China Mobile, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of China Mobile Communications Group, will invest approximately 100 billion yuan this year, about 1.5 trillion yen, in 5G development, roughly four times more than the previous year, in response to the Xi administration’s economic stimulus measures.
Nor is that all.
Huawei is gaining momentum by developing, for example, an elevator system that can be ridden without touching any buttons at all, in order to prevent virus infection.
As stated earlier, automobile production remains sharply depressed, but the Party Central Committee is adopting preferential measures for local electric-vehicle makers, causing production to recover quickly and increase.
Riding the tailwind of demand for monitoring and tracking coronavirus infections, high-tech equipment makers in fields such as AI are also trying to get ahead in international competition.
This article continues.