BEIJING – Increasing pressure from major world powers gives the Chinese government more opportunities to show off its new approach to international affairs.
In the first coordinated action by Western countries since US President Joe Biden took office, the US, EU, UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday. The countries cited human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region – allegations Beijing has repeatedly denied.
China’s Foreign Ministry responded quickly with its own broad list of sanctions against EU entities and individuals. These people and their families will not be able to enter mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao, according to the ministry, and associated companies and institutions will not be allowed to do business with China, according to the ministry.
The level of detail regarding the consequences outlined in these sanctions and the sanctions announced at the time Biden was sworn in differs from the more vague sanctions in the past, said Nick Turner, a Hong Kong-based counsel with law firm Steptoe & Johnson . . His topic includes economic sanctions.
“It shows the natural course of evolution for a major power,” said Turner. “We could frame this in terms of just responses to the West, but … I think this is a natural development.”
China has grown into the world’s second largest economy in the past two decades. Its leader, President Xi Jinping, has abolished the deadlines, pushing for greater control domestically, while allowing for the development of a more aggressive diplomatic voice. In July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also established the Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Research Center in Beijing.
And at an annual parliamentary meeting earlier this month, China announced that it will promote legislation in foreign affairs, including sanction countermeasures.
Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute for China and the United States, said Beijing could announce similar restrictions for individuals from Canada, the UK and the US in retaliation for the latest sanctions.
“You will find that under Xi Jinping it has become a hallmark diplomatic move that China will mirror and amplify everything done to it in the form of sanctions,” Daly said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.
– Yen No Lee from CNBC contributed to this report.