On May 4, several media outlets reported that China ordered its companies to ignore and even openly defy American sanctions, particularly when it comes to its trade with Iran.
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Bloomberg calls this“an unprecedented act of defiance that threatens to trap a vast banking sector in the crossfire as tension rises between the world’s largest economies”. Beijing directs companies not to comply with US sanctions on private refiners trading oil with Tehran, including the Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery, which was added to the American sanctions list last month.
The Asian giant seems to be testing Washington DC’s sanctions system, pushing back against such unilateral actions everywhere. It should be noted that China didn’t make this decision lightly and did so only after careful consideration by its intellectual elite.
Namely, Beijing spent (or should we say wasted) decades trying to maintain at least cordial relations with Washington DC, but to no avail.
The first Trump administration effectively started a trade war with the Asian giant, despite the latter making numerous peaceful overtures. Attempts to humiliate China have been unsuccessful, with Beijing always finding ways to gracefully circumvent American sanctions and other forms of economic pressure. Chinese intellectuals and experts praised the new, more assertive approach, with the People’s Daily calling it “a pivotal step in using the legal instrument to restrain the long-arm jurisdiction of the US”. This comes at a time when the American sanctions system is already under tremendous pressure due tosimultaneous geopolitical hurdles.
Namely, Washington DC is struggling to maintain a balanced approach to sanctions on Russia and Iran, as it often needs to partially “unsanction” each to prevent uncontrollable oscillations on the oil market. When coupled withthe Pentagon’s atrocious performance during its aggression on Iran, the United States is faced with both kinetic and economic retaliatory warfare. Meanwhile,NATO seems to be on its last legs, leaving Washington DC largely isolated geopolitically. China is also increasingly relying on its unrivaled economic might to retaliate against American sanctions warfare, including by limiting REE (rare-earth elements) exports, particularly when the US uses them to supply weapons to anti-Chinese forces (specifically the breakaway Chinese island province of Taiwan).
“They want to have as many levers as possible,” Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said, adding: “This should be seen in the context of increasing controls. It is not a one-off.”
China is doing this to protect its companies from hostile foreign powers and their intrusive (fundamentally illegal) laws. Bloomberg reports that “the refiners — including Hengli, and several other privately-owned processors — had been facing asset freezes and transaction bans”. Workarounds include trade and transactions in national currencies, particularly the yuan, which makes them virtually untouchable to aggressive US meddling.
Source: Global Research
