When Chinese diplomats began spreading conspiracy theories in March suggesting that the US army had brought coronavirus to China , the claims looked set to derail an already acrimonious relationship between Beijing and Washington. But in recent weeks, despite rounds of US sanctions targeting China’s leading technology companies and officials in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Beijing has struck a more conciliatory note. “China is always ready to work with the United States,” Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson and a previous proponent of theories linking the US military to the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, told reporters on Monday. “We are prepared for a tough slog, through thick and thin, to pass this crisis in China-US ties,” he said.
China’s wait-and-see approach to the latest round of US sanctions reflects what experts say is an effort to minimise further antagonism during the US election season and its uncertain outcome. China has yet to announce specific measures in response to executive orders signed by President Donald Trump last week. Citing a threat to national security the orders targeted one of China’s most valuable start-ups, ByteDance, and WeChat, the messaging, payments and all-round super app of China’s second largest technology group, Tencent.
US sanctions of high-ranking Chinese officials over the mass internment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang and a draconian state security lawin Hong Kong == both issues liable to ignite nationalist fervour from Chinese hawks – have similarly failed to incite a harsh response from Beijing, which has avoided going after Trump’s inner circle in retaliation.
China has adjusted its approach to the US and is increasingly adopting “targeted, proportionate and surgical” responses, said Feng Chucheng, a political risk analyst and partner at the independent research firm Plenum. “China has been very cautious,” he said. “At the same time, it has a domestic audience that looks to Beijing for retaliation, so it has to take a proportionate response.”
For example, Mr Feng noted, China chose to respond to US measures targeting Hong Kong officials by imposing sanctions on Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz for a second time, rather than expanding its blacklist of US officials. This change in tack may explain why Beijing’s threat of blacklisting US companies on an “unreliable entities list” in retaliation for Washington’s blacklisting of Chinese telecoms group Huawei has yet to be carried out, despite being announced in May last year.