China is preparing to return fire in response to a string of U.S. moves targeting Chinese businesses.
“We will take all the necessary measures to resolutely defend the interests of China and Chinese firms” in the face of a U.S investigation into Chinese theft of American intellectual property, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng told reporters Thursday, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Monday authorizing an inquiry into unethical Chinese trade practices, the first punitive action he has taken against Beijing since he became president. Trump may move to use Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs on countries that openly engage in “unfair trade practices.”
“Today the American patent system and the American genius it protects are under serious attack,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross wrote in an op-ed after the president ordered the probe into Chinese activities. “Intellectual property theft and expropriation costs US businesses as much as $600 billion a year.” Ross identified China as the “primary culprit,” an assessment China rejects as it denies engaging in illicit activities. (RELATED: China Is Launching A ‘Serious Attack’ On American Genius, Warns Commerce Secretary).
Beijing is also livid over a new batch of U.S. sanctions targeting Chinese and Russian firms and individuals with illegal ties to North Korea. (RELATED: US Cracks Down On Chinese, Russian Firms Supporting The Kim Regime). The Trump administration has demonstrated a strong willingness to punish Chinese entities backing the Kim regime. The Department of the Treasury blacklisted the Bank of Dandong in June, also triggering opposition from Beijing.
China has begun implementing sanctions in accordance with the latest United Nations Security Council resolution, but China has failed to put the kind of pressure on Pyongyang that Trump desires, leading the U.S. to target Chinese interests.
“China especially opposes any country conducting ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ over Chinese entities and individuals,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Wednesday, further stating, “Measures taken by the United States are not helpful in solving the problem and unhelpful to mutual trust and cooperation. We ask the United States to stop the relevant wrong practices immediately.”
State-run Chinese media was even more critical.
“The US has long believed that sanctions are a silver bullet,” the China Daily wrote in an editorial, “But the majority of sanctions have not only failed but also caused humanitarian disasters in other countries. There is little doubt that such secondary sanctions will have little effect in persuading the DPRK to change course.”
The nationalist Global Times warned that the U.S. will “pay” for its actions. “The US has acted beyond its authority and its unilateral sanctions are unreasonable,” the tabloid asserted, “The reality is that China can choose whether and how to retaliate against the US given how Chinese companies are hurt. The Chinese government has the obligation to speak for the country’s legitimate companies. Washington had better restrain itself.”
As Chinese businesses illegally cooperating with North Korea conduct business in U.S. dollars, they are subject to the laws of the U.S. financial system, giving the U.S. the authority to act.
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