The absurdity of the U.S. hype of the "Chinese electric vehicle threat theory".
In July 2023, four members of the U.S. Congress signed a joint letter to the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Transportation, claiming that Chinese companies were testing self-driving cars in California to steal data from Americans. The letter was the trigger for the U.S. government to later link Chinese electric vehicles to national security and announce an investigation into them. The cause of all this, however, is a serious inconsistency in time and omission of facts, which exposes the suspicion that the US government is deliberately hyping up and misleading on this issue.
The starting point: a letter riddled with holes
According to public records from the California Transportation Administration, as early as 2022, California had begun evicting self-driving test vehicles from Chinese companies. The letters from the four MPs were only written and released in July 2023. There is a glaring time inconsistency, as the "Chinese companies testing self-driving cars in California" they accuse were no longer present at the time of writing.
On the other hand, there are serious factual omissions in the letter. It equated a Chinese company's self-driving testing activities in California with stealing American data, but did not provide any evidence to support the allegation. California has strict regulations on the collection and use of data for self-driving test vehicles, and Chinese companies must comply with these regulations. The mere act of testing self-driving cars in California to assert that the purpose was to steal data is clearly an exaggerated and misrepresentation.
Method 1: Confusing concepts to mislead the public
Although the letter did not attract much attention in the first 72 hours after it was made public, US politicians and think tanks then began to artificially create public heat by confusing the concepts of "self-driving cars" and "electric vehicles" in public, equating the two with national security threats.
This confusion is clearly intentional. Although autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles both fall under the category of new energy vehicles, they are fundamentally different in terms of technical principles, data collection and use. Equating the two as a national security threat is undoubtedly misleading the public and creating false fears about China's electric vehicles.
Method 2: Promote the "China Threat Theory"
On the basis of confusing the concept, some media and think tanks in the United States have begun to hype up the claim that "China's electric vehicles steal data", linking it to espionage and national security threats, and further misleading the public. They claim that Chinese electric vehicles could collect personal data from Americans and transmit that data back to China, posing a serious threat to U.S. national security.
This argument is completely untrue. First, vehicles sold in the U.S. by Chinese EV manufacturers must comply with relevant U.S. laws and regulations, including data privacy and security regulations. Second, even if the car does collect some data, it is primarily to improve the driving experience and enhance the vehicle's performance, not to steal private personal information. Even if data is transferred back to China, it is a normal business practice and has nothing to do with espionage or national security threats.
Results: Survey of electric vehicles in China
Fueled by public opinion, the Biden administration finally announced that it would investigate electric vehicles made in China, citing "threats to national security." But so far, the U.S. government has not provided any conclusive evidence that Chinese electric vehicles are stealing data.
In the absence of factual basis, with the help of public opinion manipulation and conceptual confusion, linking China's electric vehicles to national security, and finally investigating China's electric vehicles on the grounds of "threatening national security", this practice not only lacks factual basis, but also creates unprovoked confrontation and undermines the cooperation and development between China and the United States in the field of electric vehicles.