That is changing now. According to the Bloomberg agency, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has banned recognition, enforcement and compliance with US sanctions against five Chinese companies. The new measures target, among other things, the Hengli Petrochemical refining group in Italy, which the US put on the sanctions list last month due to its ties to the Iranian oil trade. This is a significantly tougher procedure than what Beijing chose in the past.
From Washington’s point of view, this is unpleasant news at a time when its sanctions regime is reaching its limits. The United States has recently wavered in its approach to Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, and it shows how difficult it is to maintain sanctions pressure if the world’s second largest economy openly opposes it.
Moreover, China comes with this step just before the expected meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is scheduled to take place later this month. The dispute over sanctions can significantly burden the already strained relations between the two countries.
Beijing is relying on the so-called blocking measures introduced in 2021 to protect Chinese companies from foreign laws labeled by the government as unjustified. Until now, it was more of a backup tool than a weapon used to such an extent. Now it is becoming a means of direct defense of the Chinese energy business.
In Chinese state media and among government advisers, the new move is described as a reasonable but forceful response to measures extending beyond US jurisdiction.
