The US Senate voted to pass the “American Innovation and Competition Act” on Tuesday (June 8). Its content is to strengthen the development of science and technology in the United States in an attempt to compete with the rapidly rising Chinese technology industry. The content includes funding for scientific research, subsidies for chip and robot manufacturers, and increasing production funds for semiconductors, microchips, and telecommunications equipment. In addition to funding, the bill also imposes relevant sanctions on certain personnel in China. First of all, the bill’s content requires the US government to set up an interagency working group to resolve the issue that the US believes that China has been manipulating the US market and grant funding to support independent media operating in China.
The bill also requires the U.S. State Department to make a list of Chinese companies so that the U.S. can cooperate with “regional allies” and prohibit the import of products related to Chinese companies. Finally, the bill emphasizes that the United States needs to sanction entities and individuals that steal US trade secrets or benefit from them.
In response, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress of China issued a statement on Wednesday (June 9), criticizing the US Senate’s bill. “This bill, under the banner of innovation and competition, is actually interfering in China’s internal affairs and trying to contain China’s development. Therefore, they are doomed to fail. .”
Immediately afterward, China also passed the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law on Thursday (June 10) through the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and stated that this law safeguards national sovereignty, dignity, and core interests and opposes the West. Hegemonism and power politics. The main content is that the relevant departments of the Chinese government can decide to include individuals and organizations that directly or indirectly participate in the formulation, decision, and implementation of discriminatory restrictive measures on the counter-list, which can also include the spouses and immediate family members of these individuals, and the senior management of the organization personnel, etc. Specific countermeasures can include non-issuance of visas, denial of entry, sealing up, and seizure of movable and immovable properties in China.
According to the analysis by Dr. Wang Jiangyu, a professor of law at the City University of Hong Kong, the greatest significance of this kind of law is to give the law-making country an effective legal weapon. “When necessary, we can counter the sanctions imposed by foreign companies on domestic companies, and we can also punish those foreign politicians and officials who enact sanctions.”
“On the one hand, it is convenient for (China) to take action. But, on the other hand, it has a great deterrent effect, allowing foreign governments to see that sanctions against China will have consequences.”
In the future, how the U.S. and China will sanction each other through relevant laws is the new focus of the China–United States trade war.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57450345
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/world-57426498
