U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday that creates a slew of rules aimed at addressing what it calls “vulnerability” at the country’s maritime ports. The move comes in the wake of claims by some lawmakers that cargo cranes made in China pose potential security risks.

The U.S. government plans to invest more than US$20 billion over the coming five years in new port infrastructure, primarily to replace the Chinese-made cranes in U.S. ports with homemade facilities. Currently, about 80% of cargo cranes in U.S. ports, and about 70-90% in major ports of other countries, are made in China.

Although ports are of great importance to national security, it is going too far to allege that China-sourced cranes could be controlled remotely to pose threats to the country. It has been ridiculously suggested that the cranes may be collecting information from the ports about what is being shipped and to and from where.

Such plots could be used for the next Hollywood spy thriller, although a serious producer may have second thought. It is an alarming sign that the U.S. government is trying to set the theater with its scaremongering.

Taking it one step further, according to these voices crying the wolf is at the door, anything connected with the internet poses a risk as it can potentially be accessed and exploited by hostile hackers. Their concerns are misplaced as the U.S. should scrutinize the networks in its own control, which are used to transmit data.

Then, the Chinese port crane manufacturers still rely heavily on hydraulic machines, frequency converters, electric machines, electric programmable logic controllers, machine vision control systems and other core parts and technologies from the U.S., Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Sweden.

That China’s port crane industry has grown quickly over the past decade is mainly due to its increasing benefits of scale rather than its control of the core technologies and parts. Previously, the cranes were mainly manufactured in Japan, the ROK and Europe.

If the U.S. government really wants to localize the assembly and manufacturing of such large-scale port infrastructure and facilities, it will require a reshuffle of the global industry and supply chains in this sector.

Previously, the U.S. government has lured chipmakers with subsidies to relocate their production from China to the U.S., which has proved extremely difficult. The port crane initiative may prove even more so.

That Chinese port cranes have a lion’s share in the global market is a result of fair competition, the international division of labor and cooperation. Treating them as Trojan horses is absurd and will give rise to unnecessary expenses for all parties involved by disrupting a mature and efficient supply chain. (China Daily)