‘Delete A’ denotes China’s intention to ‘erase all American technology.’

The writing is apparently on the wall for US IT businesses operating in China, or as one insider Wall Street Journal (WSJ) story put it, “it’s also on paper, in Document 79.” If you’re wondering what Document 79 is, it’s a decree from the Chinese government known by some as “Delete A,” which stands for Delete America.
High-ranking officials and executives were reportedly only provided with Document 79 as an instruction and were not permitted to make copies due to its alleged sensitivity.

According to the paper, state-owned businesses in the energy, banking, and other sectors must replace foreign software in their IT systems by 2027.
As they “hot-wired the country’s meteoric industrial rise with computers, operating systems, and software,” American IT companies had long prospered in China. These days, Chinese policymakers want to alter that in order to “push for self-sufficiency and concerns over the country’s long-term security.”
The first objective
The US hardware manufacturers, including Dell, IBM, HP, and Cisco Systems, were the first targets. A large portion of the equipment used by all of these businesses has steadily been replaced by goods made by Chinese rivals. Additionally, the profits of these corporations in China have been continuously declining as the country concentrated on updating its hardware.
It’s said that companies like Oracle and Microsoft are slipping behind in the market. The initiative is but one round in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s years-long campaign for national self-sufficiency in everything from the manufacturing of grains and oilseeds to vital technologies like fighter planes and semiconductors. The overarching plan aims to shift China’s reliance on imports of energy, raw materials, and food toward local supply networks.
Growing economic nationalism
According to the research, the majority of government bids from about six years ago sought hardware, semiconductors, and software from Western manufacturers. “By 2023, many were seeking Chinese tech products instead.”
According to the study, which quoted experts, going forward, Western companies may continue to fall farther behind in the Chinese market due to China’s public sector’s preferred demand. Nevertheless, the research cautioned that “there continue to be pockets of opportunity in China for Western companies, especially in more advanced tech where China still lags behind and in sales to multinational companies operating there.”