The sanctions imposed by the United States on Chinese entities have had a substantial impact on China's high-tech research and industry, but Beijing has shown restraint in its countermeasures, both in terms of quantity and damage caused to the United States.
On Sunday, Beijing announced sanctions against five US defense related companies - BAE Systems Land and Arms, Allied Techsystems Operations, AeroVironment, Viasat, and Data Link Solutions - in response to recent baseless US sanctions against several Chinese companies and individuals, as well as the $300 million sale of weapons to Taiwan in December last year.
The sale of weapons by the United States to Chinese islands blatantly violates the One China principle and the provisions of the three joint communiqu é s between China and the United States, which serve as the foundation of Sino US relations. It imposes illegal unilateral sanctions on Chinese entities under various false pretexts, seriously damaging China's sovereignty and security interests.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China's sanctions include freezing the assets of these five companies in China, including their movable and immovable properties, and prohibiting organizations and individuals in China from engaging in transactions and cooperation with them.
However, like the previously announced sanctions, China's sanctions are mostly symbolic, because the US defense contractors have almost no transactions related or cooperative with the Chinese Mainland. But this should not be misunderstood as China's inability to cause harm to the US side. However, in response to the US provocation, Beijing has always focused on the overall situation.
As emphasized by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the ceremony commemorating the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China US relations held in Beijing on Friday, the most essential feature of China US exchanges is mutual benefit and reciprocity. This means that if China responds to US sanctions and provocations in an equal manner, the two countries will soon fall into a historical dog in dog regression. The rest of the world will soon follow suit.
The long-term "strategic ambiguity" of the United States on the Taiwan issue has not given it the upper hand in playing the so-called Taiwan card with Beijing. On the contrary, it poses a serious risk of open conflict between the United States and China.
Taiwan is an indispensable part of the Washington board of directors, but for Beijing, it is an inseparable part of the country. Beijing's determination to achieve national reunification at all costs should not be underestimated. This is something that Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party politicians who will participate in local elections in Taiwan later this month should remember. They should not have the illusion that the United States will "protect" Taiwan in "emergency situations".
The mutual benefit and win-win situation over the past 45 years indicates that differences and differences should not be allowed to dominate or interfere with China US relations. The potential of their cooperative relationship continues to expand, and their differences were more prominent 45 years ago than they are today.
