Hours after the House passed the resolution on impeachment, in another major foreign policy move at the fag end of its tenure the Trump administration on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on China.
The United States imposed an investment ban on nine more firms. Those affected include planemaker Comac, phone maker Xiaomi Corp., oil giant CNOOC etc. According to reports, the new CNOOC restrictions will not apply to crude, refined fuels and liquid natural gas and do not apply to existing joint ventures with CNOOC that do not operate in the South China sea. The Joe Biden team has not commented on this move yet.
Apart from Comac and Xiaomi, the firms which have been hit by the ban are Grand China Air Co Ltd, Global Tone Communication Technology Co Ltd and China National Aviation Holding Co Ltd.
The Trump Administration accused China of misdeeds in the South China Sea. Earlier this week the Unites States announced sanctions against neighbouring Cuba and put it on the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism. The other three countries in the list are Syria, Iran and North Korea. The US Secretary of State had to cancel his European trip after Luxembourg’s foreign minister refused to meet him.
Experts are of the view that the major foreign policy moves taken by the Trump Administration will only complicate the matter for the new Joe Biden Administration which has totally different policies in dealing with China. In the case of Cuba too the then Democratic Administration of Barack Obama had in 2015 removed the country from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. Obama had even visited Havana in 2016. Thus he became the first US President to visit the Caribbean country since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
