From Russia, will US expand economic war to China?

by CHEN FENG

From an altitude of 223 miles, one of the Expedition 40 crew members aboard the International Space Station on July 27, 2014 recorded this oblique night image of Taiwan and part of mainland China. Hundreds of fishing vessels, perhaps for harvesting both fish and squid as well as other forms of marine life are seen in clusters throughout the panorama. Two lightning flashes – one on either side of the image – are also visible. PHOTO/NASA

The war in Ukraine is in danger of igniting World War III. A gunfight with NATO cannot be excluded as a consequence of Russia’s military action. The US and NATO are avoiding military conflict on the one hand and firing on all cylinders with economic sanctions on the other. Russia’s military action is aimed at winning space for its security, while the US economic policy is aimed at destroying the Russian economy as a way to trigger regime change and even dismantle Russia.

This could become the first of a new kind of asymmetric world war, in which China’s role is particularly noteworthy.

China is a sovereign state, and the US has no right or power to order China to comply with US sanctions against Russia based on domestic law. Nor can the US push sanctions against Russia through the UN Security Council.

Apart from energy, which is inseparable from Europe, Russia’s trade with Europe and the United States is only icing on the cake, while trade with China is what really counts. As long as China continues to maintain normal economic and trade ties with Russia, and even expand them, Russia’s economy will not collapse.

The United States wants to close this “big loophole” with China, possibly by extending the economic war against Russia to China, thus forcing China to either submit to the rule of US. sanctions or to have its economy destroyed together. This idea is crazy. It’s not impossible, but unlikely.

The US economic sanctions are concentrated in several areas:

1. Ban Russia from SWIFT, seize its dollar reserves, and exclude it from Western debt markets;

2. Seize Russian assets abroad;

3. Undertake a major withdrawal of foreign investment;

4. Restrict travel;

5. Restrict Russian imports and exports.

It must be said that such measures directed against China would be very serious threats to the Chinese economy. But people seem to forget that the first salvo of the trade war was fired on July 6, 2018, when the US imposed an additional 25% tariff on the first $34 billion of Chinese exports to the United States.

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