On Wednesday (Jan. 20), just as the new U.S. President Joe Biden was sworn in, Beijing issued a news release sanctioning 28 former officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, from the Trump administration. Why did Beijing choose to announce the sanctions against individuals just as the former officials left office and the new administration was inaugurated? Experts believe that the Chinese Communist Party is pressuring the new U.S. administration to warn the Biden Administration not to make any “inappropriate” moves against the Chinese Communist Party.
At noon ET on Wednesday, as many Americans were focusing on the presidential inauguration and the swearing-in of new President Joe Biden, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing sanctions against 28 Trump Administration officials, including Pompeo, Bomen and Navarro, for “interfering in China’s internal affairs and harming China’s interests and U.S.-China relations. They were banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau, and their related companies and institutions were also banned from dealing with China.
Lu Bobin: The Chinese Communist Party has long had its eye on Pompeo
Robert Ross, a professor of political science at Boston College and a fellow at Harvard University’s Fei Zhengqing Center for China Studies, said the Chinese government has long had its eye on Pompeo, “Beijing wants to hold specific individuals accountable on U.S.-China relations, and the first choice is of course Secretary of State Pompeo, who is on the front lines of the ideological war and whose new Taiwan policy seems to Beijing to be encouraging division.”
Lu Bobin said that during President Trump’s four years in office, whether it was the Taiwan issue, the trade war, the ideological war, or other things, Beijing has been taking a more restrained approach than in the past, “and now they can do what they want to do, they can take a less restrained approach against Trump’s advisors, his team, who have left office. “
A statement from the Communist Party’s foreign ministry said sanctions were imposed on 28 former U.S. officials, but did not release the full list.
Hu Ping: Beijing’s Sanctions Are Just a Gesture
Hu Ping, editor-in-chief emeritus of Beijing Spring, believes that the CCP’s sanctions are a gesture, indicating that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, “the number of U.S. officials sanctioning China is large, and he can’t appear too few, and it doesn’t matter at all who is behind, he has to make up that number, and if the names are published others find it more ridiculous because it is more irrelevant. “
However, the names announced by Beijing are all prominent figures within the Trump administration, Secretary of State Pompeo, presidential national security adviser O’Brien, deputy national security adviser Booming, presidential trade adviser Navarro and others, seemingly singling out officials with a hardline attitude toward the Chinese Communist Party for sanctions. Hu Ping said this is Beijing putting pressure on the new Biden administration “on how it would be if you also took that attitude toward the Chinese government. “
Li Mingzhang: Beijing Meant to Warn Biden Administration
China expert Bill Bishop, founder of the e-newsletter Sinocism, tweeted that Beijing deliberately chose the moment of Biden’s inauguration speech to release the sanctions list, which could be seen as “intentionally disrespectful. intentionally disrespectful. “So, yes, this should be seen as a warning to the new U.S. administration that Beijing’s message is that if you don’t deal with the Communist Party “properly,” your future earning potential is going to go down the drain.”
But what is puzzling is why Beijing sanctioned Pompeo but not his boss Trump, who by that standard should have been the outgoing president. Hu Ping said Beijing still has concerns.
“I think he will not sanction Trump, the first is to avoid Trump to react against him, Trump is mouthy, so it is not good for him. Besides it does not want to set such a precedent, that is, to directly sanction the number one person on the other side. “
Lu Bobin: in the context of U.S.-China relations sanctions on individuals will not have much impact
Professor Lu Bobin, on the other hand, believes that sanctions against individuals will not make much sense in terms of international policy, “You deny Secretary of State Pompeo a visa to visit China, the Biden administration will not care. Nor would Beijing particularly care if we targeted those responsible for the Communist Party’s policies on Xinjiang and Hong Kong, because it’s hard to imagine that those officials would want to come to the United States. So sanctioning individuals in the broader context of U.S.-China relations would not be particularly impactful.”
Lu Bobin believes the Biden administration will not respond to this latest sanction from Beijing. “This is retaliation by the Chinese government against past U.S. administrations. This one has been turned over and we are ready to move forward. I don’t think at all that this will trap the Biden administration or that the U.S. will need to retaliate.”
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