America’s China Strategy Has a Credibility Problem

A Muddled Approach to Economic Sanctions Won’t Deter Beijing

By Emily Kilcrease

In future crises or conflicts in U.S.-Chinese relations, the economic dimension will be critical. Yet Beijing currently has good reason to doubt the credibility of Washington’s sanctions threats. This is because the United States’s response has been muted in the face of recent Chinese provocations, including Beijing’s efforts to erode democracy in Hong Kong, the dispatching of a spy balloon over the United States, and Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

Sanctions are a crucial part of the U.S. foreign policy toolkit, and they encompass a broad array of economic restrictions, including financial

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/americas-china-strategy-has-credibility-problem