From the Toyota quality incident to the TikTok incident, how much has the capital of the United States threatening foreign companies attenuated?

After watching the hearing of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on TikTok on March 23, and reviewing the entire turmoil since the US government threatened to shut down TikTok in 2020 and attempted to snatch TikTok’s equity, I am most concerned about this issue.

Merton Miller, a 1990 Nobel laureate in economics and a professor at the University of Chicago, is a thoroughly American. In his book “Merton Miller on Derivatives” (Merton Miller on Derivatives) When talking about the US-Japan trade frictions, he bitterly ridiculed the US government’s so-called “trade negotiations” as “robbers robbing good people”. Not to mention the TikTok turmoil, which is even worse than the U.S.-Japan trade dispute.

Since the essence of American-style trade negotiations is nothing more than “robbers robbing good people” that even famous American economists admit, rather than moral condemnation, what we need to pay attention to and study should be what is the capital that the United States relies on when forcing foreign companies to submit , In the TikTok turmoil, whether the capital of the United States is enough to force Chinese capital to hand over the company and its technology. Compared with the “Toyota Quality Disturbance” provoked by the United States in 2009-2010, we can see it more clearly.

Toyota in the “Quality Disturbance” in 2009-2010

The Toyota quality incident from 2009 to 2010, also known as “pedal gate”, began when some consumers in the United States claimed that their Toyota vehicles had problems such as “brake failure” and “sudden acceleration”, which led to car accidents, and then spread rapidly to the whole world In almost all major economic countries, Toyota has recalled more than 8 million cars worldwide to repair car floor mats and accelerators.

In this turmoil, the U.S. took the lead. It not only held high the banner of “consumer protection” and launched an overwhelming preconceived and one-sided public opinion siege, but also sued hundreds of Toyota Motors. The U.S. Congress also held two hearings on this, forcing Akio Toyoda, who has been the president (president) of Toyota Motor Corporation for less than half a year, attended the second hearing held by the US House of Representatives Committee on Housing, Energy and Commerce on February 23, 2010. The hearing was broadcast live to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. He was troubled by others. Not only that, but also face to face to hear an American woman they specially selected claim that her Toyota car “accelerated suddenly”, pointed at his nose and shouted “Toyota, you are shameless”…

Between June and July 2010, the results of extensive investigations conducted by Toyota itself and by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) each clarified Toyota’s responsibility:

Toyota has investigated nearly 2,000 cases of sudden acceleration claimed by drivers, and the results show that its vehicle electronic control system does not have the defects accused by the plaintiffs’ lawyers and the media. Some accidents are caused by the driver’s mistake. throttle. Accident data records downloaded by Toyota showed evidence of a sticking and jammed gas pedal and driver error, with no evidence the driver applied the brakes when the car hit.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) submitted its investigation report to the National Academy of Sciences, its Deputy Administrator Daniel Smith, Richard Boyd, the acting head of the Office of Fault Investigations, and others announced , their investigation into Toyota’s electronic throttle control system found no flaws.

Most of the car “sudden acceleration” accidents that NHTS has investigated over the past 30 years have likely been caused by the driver pressing the gas pedal when trying to brake, negating claims by some safety advocates and plaintiffs’ attorneys that a faulty electronic component in the gas pedal system caused the accident. Toyota’s claim of “sudden acceleration” backs up Toyota’s claim.

The data records analyzed by NHTSA were selected by the agency from complaints drivers filed with the U.S. government, not by Toyota.

A report prepared by the bureau in March 2010 alone covered more than 3,000 complaints it received between 2000 and 2010 about “sudden acceleration” problems in Toyota vehicles, including 75 fatal crashes that killed 93 people . And of all those fatal crashes, the agency could only confirm that one fault was Toyota’s fault, an Aug. 28, 2009, floor mat in a Lexus that got stuck in the gas pedal while braking, causing a California Patrolman to The police and three occupants in the Lexus were killed.

The “Toyota Quality Disturbance” is essentially a political struggle against Japan

Similar to the current TikTok turmoil, it turns out that in the “Toyota quality turmoil” that roiled the global auto market and covered almost all major economies in the world from 2009 to 2010, American politicians and other forces who jumped up and down were extremely active. There is a sense of sensationalism; the “consumer rights protection” component is negligible, and the political struggle component is full; in its political struggle component, the international political struggle component exceeds the domestic political performance component.

Today, American politicians are attacking TikTok because they have clearly listed China as their biggest strategic competitor, or even an enemy. More than ten years ago, the United States was deeply mired in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with no hope of winning and withdrawing troops. The subprime mortgage crisis severely damaged the soft and hard power of the United States. The United States itself felt that its hegemony was shaken. As a result, American politicians made a big fuss about Toyota’s “quality problems” by accusing them of accusations, in order to ensure that Japan continues to bow its head and obey its ears, rolling on the track set by the United States in an orderly manner.

After all, since the end of World War II, Japan under the occupation of the U.S. military has been the cornerstone of the U.S.’s control of East Asia. After withdrawing from military bases such as Taiwan and the Philippines, the U.S.-Japan alliance has become increasingly crucial for the U.S. to control East Asia and ensure global hegemony.

For this reason, as long as the United States intends to maintain and strengthen its East Asian hegemony, it needs to combat any tendency of the Japanese government to “leave the United States”, seize available opportunities to beat Japan, and reaffirm its authority as the “boss” to the Japanese government and society. But using the names of “economic and trade disputes”, “consumer rights protection”, and even the more “fashionable” “feminist rights” and “LGBTQ rights” to achieve their own political and military strategic goals, this method is more straightforward than provoking political disputes smarter.

The Yukio Hatoyama government, which officially took office on September 16, 2009, has a certain degree of independent foreign policy tendency. The ruling philosophy is to get rid of the subordinate relationship with the United States, build an Asia-centered foreign policy, and improve relations with neighboring countries in East Asia.

For this reason, it is not surprising that Yukio Hatoyama was “repaired” by Uncle Sam as the head rafter, from the noise about Toyota’s quality to the cold reception of his visit to the United States. Yukio Hatoyama was in power for only eight and a half months and was forced to resign on June 2, 2010. On the surface, it is the result of Japan’s internal political struggle, but in fact, it is more caused by the United States’ obstruction and “repair”.

What is striking is that not long after Yukio Hatoyama was forced to resign in 2010, the “Toyota Quality Disturbance” that had once overwhelmed the city and was about to be destroyed suddenly took a turn for the worse. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other US official agencies officially submitted investigations. The report, meeting announcement, clarified Toyota Motor’s responsibilities.

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