中國5G科技如何影響美中權力競爭：武器化互賴關係在北約國家的實踐

How China’s 5G Technology Influences the U.S.-China Great Power Competition: The Practice of Weaponized Interdependence in NATO Countries

The United States claims that Chinese 5G telecom companies pose national security threats and thus requests its allies to ban these companies from participating in 5G infrastructure. Why does the United States manage to curb the global development of Huawei and ZTE? Based on the weaponized interdependence theory, this paper argues that the U.S. perceived threats posed by Chinese 5G telecom companies’panopticon and chokepoint effects contributed to the U.S. sanctions against Huawei and ZTE. Moreover, the same concern drove the United States to request its NATO allies, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Belgium, to increase the level of restriction on Huawei and ZTE. These measures are believed to prevent sensitive information from exposing to China, decrease the likelihood of China’s coercion, and reduce the sunk cost of using Chinese telecom companies. The findings of this research demonstrate that emerging technology like 5G widens great powers’economic capability, enables them to undermine leading countries and challengers, and reveals the applicability of weaponized interdependence mechanisms to different issues of contention.