Without proof, is Huawei still a national security threat?

Homo sapiens was a failed evolutionary experiment. Perhaps some on other planets do rise to the challenge of planetary organisation, but obviously we don't possess the necessary capacities.

The truth is that the US is far more imperialistic and murderous than any other nation on earth, including China. Assuming you live in the US, you are blinded by living in the belly of the beast.

edit: Also, if you don't think the US uses data to stamp out dissent, you are simply ignorant. Just look up COINTELPRO, which is just one of many official anti-dissent programs. You could almost say it's the FBI's job to stamp out dissent. And that's not getting into covert information techniques, such as CIA operatives at most major news outlets, and in modern times, social media manipulation.

See: https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/my-life-as-a-new-york-ti...

Yes, what China does to its own citizen is immeasurably worse than what the US (currently) does to its own citizen. But that's not really relevant, because the leader of $(Country X) is not trying to emigrate to China.

The more relevant question is: how many non-Chinese regimes were overthrown by China in the past 100 years? (In other words, "What do they do with the data?", as you asked.)

Kind of like England in the 19th century. A liberal democracy at home, despot abroad.

You can't compare imperialist USA with China. The former is a vicious beast compared to the latter's Pooh bear.

Now when it comes to how they treat their own citizens, sure, one can't argue that the US is miles ahead by every measure. But this discussion isn't about how they treat their own citizens.

A dismissal of concerns about a rising external threat arising within the U.S. doesn't avert crisis: it delays it's response.

The US has a social credit system? No: The U.S. have a credit rating system. This controls the distribution of loans for Homes, to Credit Cards, and cars (considered a necessity in order to work in many parts of the U.S.)

Mass re-education? Not explicitly to my knowledge. A near counterpart may be the modern prison system. The U.S. leads all other nations in number imprisoned per 100,000. Furthering the concerns is a possible regression to Debtors Prison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_prison#Modern_debto...

You switch from "The U.S." to "they" for checks and balances. I'll assume "they" is "the U.S.". Does the U.S. operate without checks and balances? No, however by it's nature the system is also slow to react to these threats. Thus continuing to focus light on the subject ensures a continued interest in self-policing to ensure these lines are not crossed/

To contrast with view of the U.S. Externally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... It's hard to argue with the last "defeat" in 1995 (and 15 subsequent "engagements") that the U.S. is a powerhouse. Hard-power Hegemony has it's perks. Soft-Power: The U.S. is still out-performing most other nations (with Forbes listing the U.S. as 4th in terms of soft-power influence).

While China's position in the world today may be concerning, the U.S.'s actions can be similarly concerning for a citizen of China. This concern is only amplified countries who aren't seated in a central position of power. They lack both the external presence flouting superiority while both observing their own internal discord.

The fine line between internal politics of a Nation and external politics conflates the problem leading to confusion and a dis-ingenuous comparison.

FYI: The U.S. is not a democracy, it's a Republic. In principle this empower's the minority protecting them from the majority. In practice this is one of the largest criticism's brought out against the U.S. today with "the 1%" being a hotly debated internal strife. While the benefit can be show-cased through the recent gay-rights movement (and earlier civil-rights movements), the draw-backs are yet-unseen.

When it matters, yes.

That seems to me just like a plain description of 'business'. Of course as rule of law becomes more effective, the chances of being found out increases, and cheating/corruption declines. But it's in the very nature of business everywhere to do these things where they are able.