It seems the United States is once again being looked upon unfavorably by the Chinese government — which means by Xi Jinping — this time because of our friendly relationship with independent, democratically-governed Taiwan and the fact that we have had the audacity to sell weapons to the Taiwanese government for its defense.

Defense against whom? Well, the People’s Republic of China, of course — which, since its founding in 1949, has never, ever had sovereignty over Taiwan. But Xi — much like Vladimir Putin and his claims of Russian hegemony over Ukraine — tries to harken back to ancient times, ignoring the geopolitical changes that have occurred over the centuries.

In Xi’s mind, the U.S. is the bad guy for promoting democracy, and for refusing to comply with China’s demands that we “refrain from formal dealings with [Taiwan’s] leadership.” [Liz Lee and Bernard Orr, Reuters, September 18, 2024.] So he has taken steps to punish us, by freezing the assets of nine U.S. companies in China, and describing the actions as countermeasures.

Those companies are Sierra Nevada Corporation; Stick Rudder Enterprises LLC; Cubic Corporation; S3 Aerospace; TCOM Ltd Partnership; TextOre; Planate Management Group; ACT1 Federal; and Exovera. [Id.]

Spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry Lin Jian, at a regular press briefing this week, urged the United States to “Stop conniving and supporting Taiwan independence, and stop undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” [Id.]

Clearly, this is not a matter to be taken lightly. I hope it doesn’t become one of those tit-for-tat incidents, because, as of the end of 2022, there were approximately 5,000 Chinese-owned businesses in the United States, in such diverse fields as technology, manufacturing, finance, and real estate.

I’m thinking that that’s a lot of potential counter-countermeasures.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/19/24