China does not need to beat America in every lab or factory to gain a lasting technological advantage. Sometimes it only needs international bureaucrats to bend the rules of the road in its favor.Americans tend to think of global power in terms of aircraft carriers, semiconductor fabs, and missile systems. Beijing takes a broader view. The Chinese Communist Party turns technical standards, global regulatory bodies, and obscure treaty conferences into instruments of statecraft. A handshake deal reached in shadowy bureaucratic backrooms can reshape billion-dollar markets.That is why the World Radiocommunication Conference, scheduled for Shanghai next year, deserves far more attention in Washington. The conference will bring together the world’s telecom regulators to debate the future of wireless communications. One of the fiercest fights will take place offstage, as American and Chinese officials work the hallways trying to pull other countries toward our conflicting visions for the 6 GHz spectrum band.
CHINA TIGHTENS ITS GRIP AS GREENLAND BLOCKS A CRITICAL RARE EARTH PROJECT
Here in the United States, the first Trump administration unlocked that band to unleash faster, more reliable Wi-Fi for consumers and businesses. In China, the CCP has kept the band locked down for the exclusive use of party-controlled wireless carriers.
