Sullivan's protest was invalid, and the Chinese side launched the fourth wave of counter measures. The fine must be paid, and the United States lost everything

Recently, the confrontation between China and the United States has attracted the attention of media and experts all over the world. After the United States imposed sanctions on many Chinese enterprises and imposed high "punitive" tariffs on exports in many fields, China launched corresponding counter measures.

In the past less than a week, China has successively imposed four waves of sanctions on American enterprises and individuals. On May 19, respectively, the Ministry of Commerce of China launched an anti-dumping investigation on the copolymerization of paraformaldehyde in Europe and the United States. On May 21, China announced that it would take countermeasures against former U.S. Representative Michael Gallagher. On May 20, the Ministry of Commerce of China announced that the US military enterprise Boeing Defense, Space and Security Group would be added to the list of unreliable entities. On May 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China announced the implementation of countermeasures against 12 US military enterprises and 10 relevant senior managers.

It is the first time that the frequency and scale of counter-measures are so large. Therefore, when asked about the fourth wave of counter-measures launched by China, US National Security Assistant Sullivan took the initiative to protest.

At a regular press conference held at the White House, he declared that the United States strongly opposed the "unreasonable sanctions" against China, and urged China to immediately stop the relevant sanctions. Sullivan and other senior officials of Biden's government are very clear about why China will launch sanctions this time. Sullivan also knew whether China's sanctions action was "reasonable" or not.

From the sanctions list released by China this time, it can be seen that those US military enterprises subject to sanctions have all done the same thing in recent years, that is, arms sales to Taiwan. In 2020, General Atomic Energy Company sold four MQ-9B high-altitude reconnaissance UAVs to Taiwan, which are specially responsible for carrying out reconnaissance and intelligence collection tasks in Taiwan.

In the previous year, General Dynamics sold 108 M1A2 main battle tanks to Taiwan. As for Lockheed Martin, it has customized a batch of F-16V fighter planes for the Taiwan army, and Boeing Defence of the United States has sold 100 sets of "Harpoon" shore based anti-ship missile systems to Taiwan. It is clear that it is to cooperate with the United States government to implement the so-called "porcupine strategy", improve the overall combat power of the Taiwan army in a short period of time, and achieve the goal of "rejecting unification with military force".

In this regard, the Chinese side is not accustomed to the bad habit of the United States military industry enterprises that take the initiative to come and challenge. In February 2023, the relevant Chinese authorities directly listed the above-mentioned US military enterprises in the "List of Unreliable Entities", and issued a sky high fine of more than 90 billion yuan, twice the amount of their arms sales to Taiwan. In other words, as long as you dare to sell arms to Taiwan, you must be prepared to accept double punishment. The most important thing is that if the fine is not paid within the specified time, the situation of overdue payment will face serious consequences.

Perhaps the most direct impact is that the export share of rare earth elements and rare metals is reduced, or even cleared directly. It is believed that many people know that in the current stage of industrial production and manufacturing, rare earth elements and rare metals account for an increasing proportion of these resources, including missiles, fighter planes, warships, radars and other major weapons and equipment. China is just the main exporter of these mineral resources. Without sufficient resource supply, not only production efficiency will be affected, but also the performance of weapons and equipment will be affected, so the consequences of not paying fines can be imagined.

With regard to the counter action launched by China this time, it is generally believed that China has ended the strategy of "hiding its capabilities and bide its time". In the face of the provocative action launched by the United States, China will launch corresponding counter measures, and will certainly not get used to those bad habits. One of the important factors is that China has achieved key breakthroughs in many fields and has the strength to compete with the United States, which has led to a total loss in the geopolitical game.

The improvement of comprehensive strength also makes China not make any concessions and compromises on some issues involving core interests and territorial sovereignty. As the old saying goes, China does not cause trouble, but it is never afraid of trouble. If the United States insists on testing the bottom line of China, it will inevitably pay a heavy price for its irrational behavior.