The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Photo: VCG

The US' sanctions on Chinese firms for alleged involvement with Russia is a typical case of unilateral sanctions and illegal "long-arm jurisdiction," China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Saturday, urging Washington to immediately correct its wrongdoings and stop unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies.

The sanctions lack both the basis in international law or an UN Security Council mandate, a spokesperson for MOFCOM said in a statement, in responding to the recent inclusion of 12 Chinese companies into its so-called Entity List by the US government.

The US Commerce Department on Wednesday (US time) imposed export controls on a total of 28 foreign companies for what it called "supporting Russia's military and defense industries", including 12 from China, Reuters reported.

China resolutely opposes the US unilateral sanctions which seriously undermined the legitimate rights and interests of related Chinese enterprises and affected the security and stability of global supply chains, the MOFCOM spokesperson said.

Washington should immediately correct its wrongdoings and stop the unreasonable crackdown on Chinese firms, the spokesperson said, noting that China will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese companies.

It is not the first time the US has attempted to bully Chinese companies for alleged involvement with Russia. On February 24, the Biden administration added two Chinese satellite companies to its blacklist, according to media reports.

China's Foreign Ministry later slammed the sanction, noting that China will take resolute countermeasures in response to the US sanctions.

The US has been pouring weapons into one side of the Ukraine conflict, thus prolonging the fight and making peace elusive, while spreading disinformation that China would supply weapons to Russia and sanctioning Chinese companies under that pretext. This is out-and-out hegemonism and double standard, and absolute hypocrisy, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said earlier.

The US has nearly blacklisted all large Chinese firms in the semiconductor industry and now intends to include small ones in its tech war against China as well, Ma Jihua, a veteran expert in the technology industry, told the Global Times on Saturday.

The 12 Chinese companies are mainly electronic component distributors based in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, according to media reports.

To launch these undifferentiated strikes, the US needs to cook up excuses, and the so-called involvement with Russia is just one of them. Meanwhile, it shows that the US is running out of tools to accelerate its tech war against China, Ma said.

The marginal effect of Washington's sanctions is diminishing. "We haven't seen one Chinese company fail due to the US sanction," Ma said, adding that small companies' operating strategies are more flexible which would see limit impact from the crackdown.

Moreover, the campaign of the Biden administration trying to rope in other countries to form a clique to decouple with China is now near collapse. More and more countries have clearly expressed their opposition to decouple with the world's second largest economy which is also the main diver for global economic recovery during the post-COVID era, Ma noted.

The US itself is facing a high risk of economic recession this year, with its debt even at risk of default after hitting its statutory $31.4 trillion debt limit in January. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have expressed their hope to visit China.

"Clearly the US has their need to cooperate with China in some aspects, but it would not be a choice for it to seek cooperation while cracking down on Chinese firms at the same time," Ma said.

Global Times