SHANGHAI: China on Saturday launched a mechanism that would allow it tosanction foreign companies, upping the ante in a tech war with the UnitedStates a day after Washington moved to curb popular Chinese apps TikTok andWeChat.
China’s long-expected “unreliable entities list” is seen as a weapon forBeijing to retaliate against the United States, which has used its own“entity list” to shut Chinese telecom giant Huawei out of the US market,while also moving against TikTok and WeChat.
Its implementation comes just a day after the US Commerce Departmentstepped up the pressure by ordering a banlinkondownloads of video app TikTok and effectively blocking use of WeChat, theChinese super-app.
An announcement by China’s Ministry of Commerce did not mention anyspecific foreign entities that could be targeted. But it said the newsystem would consider sanctions on entities whose activities “harm China’snational sovereignty, security, and development interests” or violate“internationally accepted economic and trade rules”.
That language closely tracks wording that Beijing has used to repeatedlydenounce US actions against Chinese companies.
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Punitive measures may include fines against the foreign entity, banning itfrom conducting trade and investment in China, and restrictions on theentry of personnel or equipment into the country.
It covers “foreign enterprises, other organisations and individuals”, theministry said.
