China on Thursday criticized the U.S. government's move to ban investments in key technology industries in China, the latest attempt in Washington's relentless crackdown campaign against China. Beijing said it has lodged stern representations with the U.S. side and will firmly safeguard its rights and interests.

Experts warned the latest U.S. move is part of the U.S.' ill-intentioned campaign to contain China's technological rise, which amounts to "economic coercion," and violates basic market principles.

U.S.' pressure and hype of "economic coercion" on China is not new. Days before the Group of Seven Hiroshima summit in May, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said China's use of so-called "economic coercion" should constitute "concern to all of us." However, figures show a more than nine-fold increase in sanctions imposed by the United States from 2000 to 2021. To date, the United States has imposed economic sanctions on nearly 40 countries, which have affected almost half of the global population and caused severe humanitarian disasters.

Even Washington's allies aren't immune to its coercive diplomacy. To eliminate Japan's economic threat, Washington compelled the country to sign the "Plaza Accord" in 1985, forcing the yen to appreciate, which led to the rapid expansion of the East Asian state's domestic economic bubble, the collapse of the real estate bubble and the long-term stagnation of the Japanese economy.

Later, Washington dismembered Alstom, a French power and transport group, through American legal action between 2010 and 2015, in a scenario featuring the arrest of Alstom executives by the U.S. Department of Justice in dirty tricks against the French manufacturer. Under pressure, Alstom had to accept an acquisition bid from American conglomerate General Electric in 2015.

Washington has also repeatedly wielded tariffs against its European partners and interfered in market competition. Not to mention its ripping into the semiconductor industry, where it "extorts" confidential data from various chip companies to maintain dominance in the sector.

Just as U.S. think tank the Center for a New American Security pointed out in a report, "Coercive economic measures have been a longstanding tool of American foreign policy, dating back to the early 19th century. But since the end of the Cold War, coercive economic measures have become an ever more important instrument of U.S. foreign policy."

To justify its suppression of China

"It's been over three decades since the United States engaged in great power peer competition, and some may have forgotten that high-stakes competition against another great power is not pretty and sometimes dirty," Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said when boasting about the so-called "strategy to deter China's economic coercion" in his congressional testimony.

While experts say the word "dirty" is fairly accurate to describe U.S. political tricks against China's legitimate and reasonable development, the hypocrisy in Cha's words reflects how Washington is struggling to find excuses for its actions that undermine economic and trade freedom.

Meanwhile, as Australia, which is enchanted by Washington and repeatedly challenged China's bottom line, was experiencing decreasing exports of coal, wine, cotton and other products to China, U.S. exports to the country in Oceania increased correspondingly.

The South China Morning Post commented in the article "U.S. Exports to China Grow at 'Expense' of Australia after Beijing's Trade Ban" that the United States will prioritize its own economic needs over those of its allies, including Australia, despite its close ties with them.

A report by the RAND Corporation has brought Washington's calculation to light: Restricting imports from China or raising tariffs makes products from China more expensive, and an outright ban on Chinese imports forces consumers to purchase other, more expensive or lower quality goods. Such costs would be passed on to consumers in the United States. However, a so-called "multilateral response" will help Washington split the costs with its "coalition" partners.

China promotes common development 

Experts say that China has never used "economic coercion" in pursuing its own development. Rather, China has made great efforts over the years to promote common development through bilateral or multilateral mechanisms.

Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has signed cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations over the past decade, based on the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. The BRI has contributed to economic development, job creation and improvement of people's livelihood in these countries.

Over the past decade, China has established 21 free trade zones across the country, an important means to facilitate trade and carry out high-level opening up. The full implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a mega free trade agreement signed by 15 members including China, is of great significance in facilitating regional economic and trade development.

"I think most people are cheering for China's success because many of the economies of the world are tied to the success of China, especially in Asia and including the United States," Milken Institute's William Lee told CGTN , noting that he believes that the world's success depends on China's success.

"America is in another great-power competition with China – that many argue is a 'new cold war.' We are witnessing the same Cold War mentality on the part of the U.S. – fomenting the danger over China's ascendance without explaining how," said Abu Naser Al Farabi, a Dhaka-based columnist and analyst, in an article published on CGTN.

"It is a well-calibrated grand scheme to demonize its strategic rival, China, on one hand, and to brandish self-righteousness on the other. Thus, geopolitical fear, now emanating from losing its hegemonic primacy, prevents current international empirical realities from receiving a fair evaluation by U.S. elite society," the expert added.

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