Qualcomm Accepted China’s Fines, America Should Stop Being Acerbic

The American company Qualcomm, a global chip-making giant, recently gathered a lot of headlines at a rather formidable cost. There is a backstory. The National Development and Reform Commission recently issued a $975 million fine for the company’s anti-trust violations and asked for five overhauls. Qualcomm acted very contrite, seemed ready to make amends and agreed to pay the huge fine.

Qualcomm ask for neither an administrative re-examination nor litigation. The company’s calm acceptance of the punishment showed how eager it was to end the matter and to ensure that any “unstable factors” for its Chinese operations would be eradicated. The market is more important than money, and compared to the money Qualcomm made in China, the $975 million fine is just a drop in the bucket.

The volume of the Chinese market surprised many global moguls. Qualcomm’s 2013 earnings topped $24.87 billion, with 49 percent of the total — or $12.3 billion — coming from the Chinese market. Qualcomm cannot handle losing the Chinese market.

Yet the American media has manipulated the news. The New York Times wrote in an article titled “China Hits Qualcomm with Fine” that “multinationals are bumping into a regulatory ceiling,” while the Associated Press has blamed China for “selective enforcement.”

It is ironic, in fact, that in the six years since China unveiled its anti-trust laws, out of the 335 companies the National Development and Reform Commission has fined, only 10 percent were foreign companies. Qualcomm would have been fined for the same violations in Europe and America too.

The American media’s accusations of Chinese nationalism, and its labeling of China’s righteous protection of its own rights as a disruption of international order, have exposed its twisted mindset. After all, America has only fined others, but when has an American company ever been fined?

The Western world’s so-called freedom of the press has only used America’s national interest as a standard. Anything not fitting American interests would be attacked with the international outlets America controls. When the Chinese economy slowed down last year, China’s officials stayed calm about the new norm, while the American media was eager to ridicule the occurrence.

In all the years past, hasn’t America constantly punished China for its photovoltaic and aluminum ingot products, as well as the company Huawei, with anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws as an excuse? Why is America allowed to do so, but not others? Not to mention that China’s primary goal is not to hand out fines; the anti-monopoly measure is meant to “create a fair competition environment” and “make the rules of the game clear in China.”

One has to obey Chinese laws and follow its regulations in China. One online commenter said it best: “It’s our right as a sovereign nation; we have to protect our national interest. If a kid who didn’t follow the rules was smacked a few times, he would naturally yell, but just ignore him.”

Lu Wei, China’s online czar, said, “All foreign companies investing in China have to strictly follow Chinese laws and obey the two ground rules: Foreign companies cannot expect to simply make money from China without being its ‘friend.’ … We cannot allow [a foreign company] to occupy China’s market while also hurting China.”

If a country is strong, so are its people. If a country is weak, its citizens would suffer too. Qualcomm’s acceptance of the fines fully demonstrated China’s strong will as a sovereign nation. Without a strong country, China’s national enterprises and consumers would be easy targets for these international moguls.

Issuing huge fines to a big American company is a good start; it serves to admonish others. China will be more and more firm in saying “no” to all violations from foreign countries and retaliate with strong measures. America should get used to the new norm.

The author is a special commentator at Huanqiu.