On Monday, Chinese state media published a new editorial of great importance to U.S. interests. The Global Times declared that “referring to 5G competition as an arms race and attaching so much importance to the dominance of the technology is typical American thinking.”

It isn’t that hard to understand why President Xi Jinping is so mad about 5G. To achieve that which drives his global hegemonic ambition, Xi must usurp U.S. trading relationships, undercut U.S. alliances, and, most relevant here, steal U.S. intellectual property.